When your children start getting their milk teeth it is a good idea to get them into a regime of caring for them. 

·         Brushing their teeth can be a fun exercise that they enjoy and make part of their daily routine. Buy some tooth paste especially formulated for children which come in all sorts of yummy flavours. Let them see you brushing your teeth and make it fun rather than a chore. 

Avoid sugar! Sometimes this is easier to start from an early age but even then sugar is hidden in lots of foods that perhaps you may not realise. 

·         Risks, baby drinks and even some tinned baby food can contain too much sugar. ·         Avoid giving your child juice or sugary drinks in a bottle. The teeth end up being bathed in sugar for a long time and can rot your child’s teeth.

·         Don’t give sweets as a treat or as a reward, it gives sweets a high importance. Why not give other things like stickers, bubbles or agree to go on family bike ride!

·         Avoid having lolly pops, fizzy drinks and squash as part of their normal diet and just give them occasionally, maybe at children’s parties. You may even find that they’re not really that bothered by them.

·         Get them to help you make smoothies with lots of different fruits; they will enjoy making them and tasting them. 

Children who eat sweets every day have almost double the decay than those children who eat sweets occasionally.