Coca-cola Babies: The Scourge That Turns The Teeth Of Very Young Children Black
Have you heard about the Coke Baby phenomenon? More and more dentists and other health professionals want to alert parents to the ravages of sugary drinks on the teeth of very young children. We propose to you to discover what is this plague and how to prevent the caries in the toddlers.
Why are we talking about Coke Babies?
The toddlers that dentists nickname Baby Coke are children under the age of 6 whose teeth are eaten away by cavities because of the contents of their baby bottles.
By the way, despite the nickname, Coke and soda are not the only drinks involved. All sweetened beverages can wreak havoc on toddlers' teeth if parents aren't careful.
What are the consequences of sugary drinks in baby bottles?
Sugary drinks, when put in the bottle and left out for young children throughout the day, can cause severe cavities in baby teeth.
Barely out of the gums, these baby teeth are black (because of cavities) instead of white... The cause of this disturbing phenomenon is very simple: it is the sugar present in the beverages that parents put in the child's bottle, whether it is chocolate milk, fruit juice or even soda.
Because of these drinks, sometimes the roots of the teeth are affected and the milk teeth have to be extracted, which is not without consequences on the development of the children.
Until their permanent teeth appear, around the age of 6, Coke Babies will have difficulty eating and speaking due to the absence of teeth.
Who are the children involved?
The sweetened drinks in the feeding-bottle are a real disaster for the oral health of young children. More and more health professionals want to alert public opinion to this scourge.
This phenomenon of Coca Babies is not only painful or embarrassing for the children concerned. It is also unfair because it affects mostly the poorest populations, in neighborhoods where parents are insufficiently informed about cavity prevention.
How to prevent cavities in young children?
To prevent the appearance of cavities in young children, it is necessary to limit sugar in all its forms, i.e. candies and sweets which must remain an exceptional pleasure but also and especially all sweetened drinks.
To curb the Coke Baby phenomenon, parents must be informed that all sweetened beverages, including flavored milk or fruit juices, can have serious consequences on the teeth of young children.
Parents, who did not think they were doing wrong and simply wanted to please their children, need to change their habits and fill toddlers' bottles exclusively with water. In some preschools, the internal rules now prohibit sugary drinks in baby bottles.
To conclude, it is not useless to remind the rules of oral hygiene in the smallest. In babies who do not yet have teeth, parents are advised to push a water-soaked compress on the baby's gums after drinking the milk bottle.
As soon as the first tooth appears, a soft toothbrush and toothpaste should be used to brush the teeth, exactly as in adults.
