Most dental problems can be avoided by educating your children on the importance of dental hygiene at an early age.

Teaching them to brush regularly is just one part of the education process. We need to teach our kids the importance of brushing and flossing, but we need to teach them how to look after their teeth in other ways as well.

We all know that sugar is bad for the teeth, unfortunately it also tastes great. It is not possible to just cut sugar out of the diet. Kids and sweets just attract each other like metal and magnets. What we can do though is teach the kids to moderate the amount of sugar they eat. We need to provide alternatives in the lunch box and teach them that fruit is also a snack.

When the kids do snack, show them that a drink of water after the snack will help remove the sugar from the mouth area. Make it a condition of the snack that they drink a glass of water after they have finished eating. Try and get them to swish it around the mouth before swallowing. It is about minimizing the time the mouth is in contact with the sugar.

Be careful of the chewy sweets as they often stick in the small gaps of the teeth causing problems. It is advisable to avoid these types of sweets, especially if it will be a long time until the next brushing and flossing. If the kids insist on these treats then get them to brush their teeth afterwards as a condition, kids will do just about anything for sweets.

Having said that, do not use sweets as a reward for good behavior. While we are getting the benefits in behavior and maybe getting a few chores done around the house, we are probably doing more harm than good. It can be very easy to just hand out sweets to get some peace and quiet, but think about it, do you really want these kids full of sugar anyway? 10 minutes peace now might mean a mini, sugar fueled tornado later on.

Encourage your kids to drink juices and milks rather than fizzy soft drinks and cordial. By drinking milk they will also get the benefit of calcium, an essential mineral to healthy teeth and bones.

Cheese and biscuits can also be a great alternative snack that has low sugar and contains calcium. You can cut cheese into fun shapes and you might even get away with a few vegetable sticks as well.

Fruit is preferable than processed sugar sweets of course. It is surprising that many kids do not get exposed to fresh fruit. It is amazing to see the surprise on their faces when they find out watermelon is sweeter than most candy. Make sure fruit is available for them and you’ll find they will eat it. On the other hand make sure the sugary treats are well hidden and not “at hand” whenever they get the urge.

The key here is to teach our children that sugar is fine, as long as we eat in moderation and take the proper steps, like drinking water after a snack. Again it is the younger kids that will pick up on this faster, but with persistence and some advice you can easily teach your children the importance of diet and how that links to healthy teeth.