Dental Charity Raises Concerns About The Modern Diet
The UK’s leading dental charity has raised concerns about the modern diet, after shocking figures revealed that thousands of children were receiving hospital treatment for decay each year.
Dr Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, warned that the modern diet, which is rich in sugar, is contributing to high levels of decay, especially among young children. Dr Carter stated that too many parents are rewarding good behaviour with sweets and added that older children are using pocket money to buy sweet foods and sugary drinks on a regular basis.
Just last week, it was revealed that 500 children are hospitalised for dental issues every week in the UK and many of them need a number of teeth extracted under general anaesthetic.
Dr Carter also stressed the importance of education about the impact of diet on oral health, after a survey showed that 3 out of 4 people ignore oral health implications when selecting foods to buy or eat.
Dr Carter suggested that many people seemed to be unaware of the relationship between oral health and diet and stressed the importance of education surrounding the influence of food on oral health. Many are aware that making certain choices impacts their body weight, but awareness of oral health effects is much lower.
Dr Carter said that it was particularly important that people understand the effects of eating and drinking sugary foods and drinks, as effectively, every time you eat or drink something containing sugar, your tooth enamel comes under attack. When you graze constantly on sugary snacks, this means that your teeth are under threat constantly. Dr Carter advised the public to stick to three meals a day and to keep sweets, chocolate bars and ice creams as a treat, rather than them forming part of the daily diet.
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