Dr. Apoena Ribeiro is a pediatric dentist and microbiologist on the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She’s additionally a mother or father.

When her daughter was little and rising up in Brazil, Dr. Ribeiro inspired her to take pleasure in a vacation known as the Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, which includes kids amassing giant baggage of sweet. However she additionally had some methods for protecting the dental risks at bay.

Right here’s what she did again then, and nonetheless does right now, to guard her household’s oral well being on a candy-laden vacation.

She minimizes grazing.

One sugar-filled evening gained’t sabotage your oral well being, Dr. Ribeiro mentioned — so when her daughter was younger, she allowed her to gather and revel in as a lot sweet as she wished on sweet-heavy holidays.

As soon as she’d had her fill, Dr. Ribeiro would ask her daughter to type her sweet into two piles: One for her favorites, which she known as her “treasures,” and one other for the rejects, which they’d donate.

The “treasures” can be stashed away in a cardboard “treasure field” that would solely be opened a couple of times per week (although as soon as per day can also be OK, Dr. Ribeiro mentioned). When the field was open, her daughter might eat as a lot sweet as she wished. However as soon as she was achieved consuming and it was closed, she can be lower off from the sweet till the field was opened once more. Then it was time to brush her enamel.

These guidelines prevented Dr. Ribeiro’s daughter from grazing on sweet all through the day, which might give the cavity-causing micro organism in her mouth extra alternatives to feed on sugars and create an setting that would result in tooth decay. “Free entry to the sweet is the primary downside,” Dr. Ribeiro mentioned.

But when the micro organism can solely devour the sugar as soon as a day or as soon as each few days, “they are going to starve,” she mentioned.

She occasions sweet consuming with meals.

The very best time to have sweet is with or simply after a meal, Dr. Ribeiro mentioned. At that time, the micro organism in your mouth might have already stuffed up on any carbohydrates from the meal, so that they’re much less capable of make the most of the sugar within the sweet. And also you produce extra saliva whenever you eat, which helps to rinse the sugar from the sweet off your enamel. It additionally neutralizes acids made by the micro organism that may put on away at your tooth enamel.

For many households, having sweet with dinner makes essentially the most sense, since all members are prone to be at dwelling and might brush their enamel simply after, she mentioned.