Do the sugar swap this easter

This is a really simple concept shared with me by one of our parents to help manage the seasonal sugar overload.

Massive piles of lollies and chocolates happen most commonly at Easter, Halloween and Christmas, but also during peak birthday party season.

So all year really, especially if your child is in Kindergarten.

The formula goes like this:

1. Allow your child to eat the amount of chocolate, lollies and treats you think is reasonable.

Clearly, this will differ for everyone, but from a dental perspective, the key factor to remember is that the FREQUENCY of sugar intake does more damage than the AMOUNT. So grazing on smaller amounts of sweet food continuously throughout a day is worse than eating a kilo of chocolate in one sitting.

Eating treats on a special occasion is fine, it’s the hoarding of the day’s spoils for weeks and weeks afterwards to be eaten daily that’s the concern for us.

In general, dessert time is the best time of day to be eating any treats as there is less time for plaque to grow before toothbrushing.

2. Brush your child’s teeth

3. Encourage your child to collect together the remainder of the treats they would like to either throw or give away.

4. Negotiate a small toy, an experience or a trip to somewhere special, and swap this for the designated treats.

We acknowledge that this may be just encouraging more plastic in your life, but we think the trade-off is worth it.

#teethmatter