4 Fourth of July Foods Your Kids Should Avoid



Fourth of July is an honorable holiday where you can enjoy friends and family, backyard barbecues and fireworks. It can also be a day of junk food, soda and sugar. But here are a few foods your little ones should avoid this holiday in order to keep their teeth in healthy shape.

1.     Sticky foods,. Sticky things, like candy, tends to attach to fillings and other dental work. Bacteria are already in the mouth and its power is enhanced when sugar is added to the mix. Sticky foods stay on the surface of the teeth longer and are harder to remove from the surface of teeth.  Saliva is not usually enough to remove the substances from your child’s teeth. "The longer food is on the teeth, the more opportunity bacteria have to damage their teeth," Dr. Cameron Fuller. Sticky foods include crackers.
2.     Acidic foods. Foods high in acid eat at the enamel of teeth. Enamel is the hard outer substance that protects the teeth. Acid can strip the enamel from teeth and cause them to be more susceptible to cavities.
3.     Fried foods. Dr. Fuller, "avoid fried food especially if your child is impacted by acid reflux disease." When your child eats fried foods and suffers from acid reflux the acid comes up strips the enamel off the teeth, leaving your child’s smile susceptible to cavities and causing a problem with existing fillings.
Fourth of July should be a time of celebration, but shouldn’t be a time of all out unhealthy choices.

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