Avoid Milk and Juice

After brushing your teeth in the evening, avoid drinking milk and juice. If you’re thirsty – drink water.

While milk is known to promote healthy bones and teeth, there are downsides as well. Milk contains a sugar called lactose. Lactose is one of the least damaging sugars to teeth but it is still sugar. If your child goes to bed with a bottle of milk, the sugar will sit on the teeth all night. When the teeth are not rinsed and cleaned off, these milk sugars can cause extensive damage to teeth over time by dissolving enamel.

We do think it is healthy to drink milk but it is essential to have it only in the day when your child can clean their teeth afterward.

Juice can be a tooth damaging drink choice day and night. Fruit juices may seem healthy, but some have just as much sugar as a can of soda. Apple juice, a kid favorite, contains just as much sugar as a soda. The sugar and acids in fruit juice eat away at tooth enamel. Over time, tooth decay and cavities can occur.

A couple of ways to reduce tooth damage is to cut the juice with water. This reduces the overall sugar being consumed, so it is healthy too. You may opt for a lower sugar option for your children to help reduce tooth decay as well. At the end of the day after brushing, have your children only drink water. Letting juice sit on teeth throughout the night can ruin enamel quickly.