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There are several steps that parents and children can take to help keep a child’s teeth healthy. They include:
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Avoid sharing utensils with children, or cleaning a pacifier by sucking on it. Parents’ mouths are a source of bacteria that can be passed on to children, leading to cavities.
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Avoid leaving a bottle in a baby’s mouth for long periods of time during the day, or for hours at a time while the baby sleeps. Sugars from milk or juices that remain on the teeth for hours at a time begin to eat away at the enamel. Pocked, pitted or discolored front teeth are signs of a condition known as bottle mouth. Baby bottle tooth decay is frequently unnoticed by parents because it often affects the back of teeth rather than the visible front. In its most extreme form, this condition can lead to a need to pull a baby’s front teeth until permanent teeth grow in. As a rule, parents should only allow a baby to have a bottle during meals.
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Teach children to drink from a cup as soon as possible. Liquid consumed from a cup does not collect around the teeth, as it does with bottles. Children are usually able to drink from a cup by age 1.
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Encourage children to drink water instead of soda and snack on fruits and vegetables instead of sweets. Snacks that are nutritious help the body to build strong teeth. Limit snacking to three or four times a day.
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Promote snacking on cheese, which has properties that hinder the development of cavities. Other good snacks include yogurt and milk.
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Avoid feeding children cooked starches. Foods such as breads, crackers and pretzels may remain in the mouth even longer than sugary snacks.
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Try to limit sweets and starches to mealtimes. The acid that forms as a result of sweets and starches attacks teeth for about 20 minutes. Therefore, it is better to limit these types of foods to mealtimes rather than having several snacks that repeatedly cause the teeth to be under attack.
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Insist that children wear protection such as a mouth guard during sporting activities. Many parents worry that their child’s thumb-sucking or use of a pacifier will damage the child’s teeth. However, damage is not a worry until around age 6, when permanent teeth come in. By that time, most children have stopped engaging in such behavior. But if children continue to suck their thumbs or use a pacifier after age 4, their dentist should be notified to be on the lookout for any possible damage. In addition, pacifiers should never be dipped in sweet liquids, as this raises the risk of tooth decay. | 
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