How Candy Threatens Your Child’s Smile | Family Dentist Cambridge MA

Dentist in Cambridge

How often does your child eat candy? According to a study conducted by the USDA Economic Research Service, children under 12 consume an average of 49 pounds of sugar in one year. While candy is not the sole source of sugar in a child’s diet, the impacts of sugary candy treats are particularly harmful to teeth. Here’s what you need to know about candy and how it might be damaging your child’s smile. 

The Impact of Sugar on Teeth 

The real culprit in candy is the high sugar content. Certain types of bacteria that are present in your mouth can feed on sugar. These destructive bacteria then create acid that wears away tooth enamel. When enamel is weakened, your risk of developing decay increases. Your mouth is effective at neutralizing acids and aiding minerals that strengthen enamel if the amount of sugars and acids is not excessive. Your mouth can only do so much, which makes it essential to limit your sugar intake and maintain a regular and thorough oral hygiene routine. 

Watch Out for Sticky, Sugary Candies 

Not all candies are made equal. For a general rule of thumb, the sticker the candy, the worse it is for your teeth. Sticky candies leave sugary residue on your teeth long after you are done eating. This gives the bacteria in your mouth more time to start demineralizing enamel. Watch out for sticky candies like gum drops and taffy.  

Suckers, lollipops, and hard sucking candies are troublesome because they are in your mouth for an extended period of time. Like sticky candies, this allows for more time for harmful bacteria to get to work by weakening your teeth. You can also chip or crack a tooth if you bite too hard.  

Other problematic candies include those that are gummy and coated in sugar. Think of gummy worms or another sour covered, chewy critter. Not only are they high in sugar content, but they also typically contain harmful acids that contribute to a loss of enamel.  

Steps for Preventing Decay 

You can help your child by limiting their candy and sugar intake. In some instances, this can be tricky and even out of your control when your child is at school or a friend’s house. What you can do is instill good oral hygiene habits in your child. Make sure they are brushing for two minutes twice each day. You can make brushing fun. Sing a song together for the two minutes, and allow them to choose a fun toothbrush and toothpaste flavor.  

Candy is a fun treat. You don’t have to take it away from your child altogether, but limit their exposure to such treats and educate them about the impacts candy can have on their teeth. When left untreated, decay can spread leading to pain and infection. Maintaining a schedule of regular visits to our office is essential. More than just a cleaning, we will provide a thorough examination to check for decay.  

If you haven’t already scheduled your child’s next appointment, please contact our office

 

Sweet Spot Dental
Phone: (617) 945-1974
cash, credit card
763 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 1
Cambridge, MA 02139

Update on COVID-19

Dentist in Cambridge

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health! Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to caring for you.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visit to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

  • Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
  • When you arrive with your mask on, you will have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office.
  • You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer mints, brochures, or zen sand gardens. These items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
  • A PPE fee of $20 will be applied to your first visit with us to compensate for the hospital grade infection control measures during Phase II of reopening.  You will only be charged once for this fee.
  • Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients and give our team the adequate time to disinfect between patient appointments. To compensate for this, we are expanding our hours to give more opportunities to patients in need of care.

For a complete list of what we’re doing to ensure your safety please see our infection control page: https://sweetspotdental.com/covid-19-safety-protocols/
We’re excited to see all your beautiful smiles again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we are taking to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. We will be reaching out to patients that are currently in the middle of treatment or need prioritization. As always, to make an appointment, please call our office at (617) 945-1974 or email us at: hello@sweetspotdental.com

We value your loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends!

Sincerely,
Dr. Jeffrey E. Greenberg DMD

Visit Our
Cambridge Office

Cambridge, MA Dentist

763 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 1, Cambridge, MA 02139

Phone: (617) 945-1974

Email: Hello@SweetSpotDental.com

Hours:
Monday: 9:00am - 6:00pm
Tuesday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Wednesday: 9:00am - 6:00pm
Thursday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday: By appointment only.

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