Children’s Easter Dental Tips

10 Mar Children’s Easter Dental Tips

Easter is this month and that means family dinners, pretty clothes, colored eggs, and Easter baskets filled with sweet treats. While Easter is a holiday where most people let their children relax a bit in the diet department, they often forgot to remember that too many sugary treats not only sabotages their diet, but can do damage to their teeth as well. However, with the proper precautions you can let your child safely enjoy the indulgences of the holiday.

Sugar can cause havoc on your child’s teeth, and can lead to cavities and tooth decay. However, these conditions are totally preventable by following these 7 simple tips for a tooth-friendly Easter.

1. For Easter, add in some non-edible treats into your child’s basket. Some options are stickers, Legos, play dough, bouncy balls, crystals, bubbles, polished rocks, paint, markers, crayons, sidewalk chalk, and other small toys/trinkets.
2. If you do decide on giving your child candy for Easter, seek out healthier, sugar free treats for your child if they have a sweet tooth. Sweets that contain Xylitol may help reduce tooth decay, and are better for your children’s teeth.
3. Stay away from sweet treats such as peeps and jelly beans that can get stuck in between teeth, or candy that sits in the mouth. Candy such as lollipops and jolly ranchers are not good for your teeth, and neither are sour candies, as they eat away at the enamel on teeth.
4. Remember, out of sight, out of mind. If there is candy in the Easter basket, place it in an area where your child cannot see. Preferably, the basket is placed up high and out of reach, so your child is not constantly reminded that there are sweet delicious treats in their Easter basket.
5. Limit your child’s intake of Easter candy by only allowing them to pick from their baskets a few times a day. A good idea is to make the candy a real treat by allowing them to choose a few pieces after a meal. They will already be full from their meal, so this will help cut back on the desire to eat more candy than their stomach can handle.
6. Every time your child eats a piece of candy, have them wash it down with a glass of water. This is important if your child is not able to brush afterwards, as the water will help wash away any particles left on their teeth.
7. To help prevent stomach aches and to help ensure that sugar does not sit on your child’s teeth all night long, make sure your child stops eating their Easter candy at least one hour before bedtime. Be sure they brush their teeth before going to bed!