Island Life June July 2015 June July 2015 | Page 69

FASHION, HEALTH & BEAUTY

Don’t suffer from

dental decay

According to the latest figures,
a shocking one third of five
year olds in the UK and half of
eight year olds will have had
dental decay - a completely
preventable often painful
disease, requiring fillings,
crowns or even extractions
under general anaesthetic.

Y

et the cause is avoidable; cereals
can contain up to 40 per cent sugar,
yet many of us feed our kids with
these – why? Coke, Pepsi, fizzy, fruit juice
and squash are loaded with both sugar
and acid, and it’s easy to check out the
sugar content (but not the acid) per 100ml
on the back of the container. The sugar
and acid get engrained within the sticky
bacterial film on your kids’ teeth, which
then attacks the enamel.

But even when the decay has started, we
can reverse it with special pastes, if you are
prepared to revert to a more tooth-friendly
diet. A bonus is this: because the same
sugar load that kills teeth also predisposes
to diabetes type 2, by avoiding the ‘refined’
foods and sugary drinks you will promote
better general health too.
One of the pastes which can re-harden
and rebuild the lost tooth mineral is called
‘Tooth Mousse’ and is available in our
practice for under £15 - a small price to
avoid a lot of trauma. If you really want
to take control and prevent tooth decay
and its consequences in your child, visit
a preventive dentist as soon as you are
pregnant, for dietary advice both through
the pregnancy and in baby’s first months
and year. We are pleased to discuss
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