Back to school: healthy snacks and the tooth pencil case

The mid-morning snack: 180 occasions a year

One snack a day for 180 school days: it's the single eating habit that most influences the dental health of school-age children. The problem isn't the snack itself (it's needed after three hours of lessons) but the automatic choice of packaged snacks, fruit juices and filled biscuits that stay stuck to the molars until lunch, with no chance to brush.

Passed and failed

Passed: fresh fruit in pieces (apples 'clean' and stimulate saliva), crackers or bread with a piece of cheese or parmesan (cheese neutralises acids and brings calcium), plain drinking yoghurt, plain nuts from age 4, crunchy vegetables like carrots and cucumbers. To drink: water, in a bottle.

Failed: fruit juices and iced teas (even 'no added sugar' ones are acidic), filled snack cakes, cream biscuits, caramel bars, sticky dried fruit like raisins and dried apricots, 'throat' sweets. Once a week, a 'free' snack is a good compromise that avoids absolute bans.

The tooth pencil case

In schools with canteen lunch, teeth go without a toothbrush from 7 am to 5 pm. A small pouch with a capped toothbrush and travel toothpaste in the backpack allows a quick brush after lunch, if the school permits: many teachers are happy to organise it as a class activity. If that's not possible, teach your child to drink a glass of water at the end of the meal and, from age 6, chew sugar-free xylitol gum.

The September check-up and the evening routine

With the return to regular hours, the evening brush with a parent returns too: two minutes, fluoride toothpaste, floss where teeth touch. If you skipped the June check-up, September is the time to catch up: after summer we often see small cavities from ice creams and drinks that at this stage are treated in minutes, without anaesthesia.

Happy school year from the Smile Club Kids team: with the right snack in the backpack and the Courage Diploma hanging in the bedroom. To book: 051 814000.