Study says brushing alone may not be enough to protect kids’ teeth

It can be tricky to get smaller children into the habit of brushing their teeth, but new research claims that even that might not be enough for good dental health.

A study of over 4,000 children aged between two and five years old in Scotland showed that snacking is a major contributor to tooth decay in young kids. The children in the study who snacked all day, rather than just eating meals, were more likely to have dental decay. Two-year-olds who brushed their teeth less than once a day or not at all were twice twice as likely to have dental decay by the age of five. A child's socio-economic background appears to play a role too, as there was a correlation between sugar consumption and levels of deprivation. The researchers, based at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities also concluded that teeth-brushing alone isn't enough to ward off decay. They stressed that the dental hygiene habits formed in childhood tend to influence a person's lifelong dental health. Sugar remains a big issue, according to study co-author Dr Stephanie Chamber of the University of Glasgow. "Among children eating sweets or chocolate once a day or more, tooth brushing more often - once or twice a day or more - reduced the likelihood of decay compared with less frequent brushing." The study was published in the Journal of Public Health.