Maintaining a healthy diet is essential for strong teeth. Choosing the right foods and drinks can help prevent tooth decay and promote good oral health from an early age.
Top Tips for Healthy Eating
- Sugary foods and drinks between meals may cause tooth decay.
- The best healthy snacks are fresh fruit, vegetables, or something savoury.
- Limit foods and drinks containing sugar to mealtimes only.
- Only drink water at least one hour before bed.
Weaning
Introducing solid foods is an important stage in your baby’s development. For guidance on weaning, check out Fun First Foods – an easy guide to introducing solid foods.
Recommended Snacks
Encourage your child to choose tooth-friendly snacks, such as:
- Fresh fruit (e.g., apple slices, banana, grapes cut into small pieces)
- Fresh vegetables (e.g., cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes)
- Sandwiches with healthy fillings
- Breadsticks, plain crumpets, bagels, or toast
Snacks to avoid:
- Sweets, cakes, and biscuits
- Fruit smoothies (high in natural sugars)
- Yogurts containing added sugar
- Dried fruit (sticky and high in sugar)
For more snack ideas, check out the Childsmile Snack Ideas Guide.
Drinks for Healthy Teeth
The best drinks for teeth are plain milk and tap water.
Recommended:
- Between meals: Only water or milk
- At mealtimes: Water, milk, or diluted fresh fruit juice (only with meals)
- At night: Water only
Avoid:
- Never give juice or sugary drinks in a bottle
- Never add sugar to a bottle of milk
- Never give sugary drinks last thing at night
Sugary drinks can cause tooth decay, especially when consumed frequently or before bed.
From 6 months old, introduce a free-flowing cup, and aim for your baby to stop using a bottle by their first birthday.
Hidden Sugars – Read the Labels!
Many food and drink products contain hidden sugars, even those labelled as “healthy” or “low sugar” or “no added sugar”. Always check ingredient labels and watch out for these hidden sugars:
- Glucose
- Glucose syrup
- Fructose
- Concentrated fruit juice
- Sucrose
- Dextrose
- Honey
- Inverted sugar
- Maltose
- Hydrolysed starches
If these ingredients are listed, try to avoid the product to protect your child’s teeth from decay.
Hyperlinks from above:
https://www.childsmile.nhs.scot/wp-content/uploads/303-__Fun-first-foods-January-2023-English.pdf