Every parent wants the best nutrition for their child. Did you know that over the course of your child’s school years, you will be packing close to 3000 lunch boxes? Making good choices about what goes into your child’s lunch box is obviously very important to give kids fuel for growing and learning but as a dentist I would also like to mention the huge impact school lunches can have on their teeth. Don’t despair! Making healthy and delicious lunches can be both easy and cost effective!
7 popular lunchbox foods that are NOT tooth friendly
– sultanas and other dried fruit
– LCMs (and other muesli bars)
– Roll ups
– Sandwiches with Jam or nutella or… fairy bread
– Primas (and other fruit juices)
– Biscuits/cakes/cookies (even homemade!)
– Chocolate bars.
7 alternatives that are more tooth friendly
– cheese and crackers
– sandwiches with salads/meats/nut spreads/cheese
– fresh fruit
– vegetable sticks with dips
– plain popcorn
– savoury biscuits
– yoghurt.
As a final note, tooth decay won’t happen because you gave your child one LCM bar. Frequency is the key factor so minimising decay promoting foods as much as possible will give your child a healthy and happy smile.