Dentists are warning against giving too much fruit juice to children because it has caused decay in the teeth of more than 1,200 toddlers in the UK. Although parents might be assuming that they are giving their children a healthy snack, in fact the sugar in the juice could be eating away at the teeth and may lead to tooth extractions later on.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre said that 1,235 children under the age of two had to be put under general anaesthetic to have teeth removed, including 134 who had only just grown their milk teeth. Dentists blame the problem on increasingly sugary diets, coupled with visiting the dental clinic less frequently.
Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser at the British Dental Association (BDA) said that this problem can affect patients of any age but he explained that toddlers can get cavities because they are given too many sugary foods and drinks. He added that ‘most damaging of all’ is giving sugary drinks in bottles for children to sip during the night; Professor Walmsley said that tooth decay is ‘largely preventable’ and also ‘the main reason why youngsters are admitted to hospital to have a general anaesthetic.’