{"id":399212,"date":"2025-09-05T05:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T05:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/399212\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T05:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T05:57:12","slug":"tackle-the-sugar-lobby-to-save-young-teeth-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/399212\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackle the sugar lobby to save young teeth | Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">No one will argue against the benefits of good oral hygiene (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2025\/sep\/02\/the-guardian-view-on-the-dental-divide-ministers-must-brush-up-their-policy-as-well-as-childrens-teeth\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian view on the dental divide: ministers must brush up their policy as well as children\u2019s teeth, 2 September<\/a>), but teaching toothbrushing at breakfast clubs to prevent dental decay (cavities and fillings) is a waste of time unless it is backed up by dietary advice with regard to unnecessary sugar. Why can\u2019t this simple advice, and ways to apply it, be given to pregnant women and mothers of newborns? It can be given by a variety of healthcare professionals, costs nothing to apply at home and would save the NHS millions in a few years\u2019 time. Children would have less pain and dentists would have a happier job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Extending the sugar tax and challenging the aggressive marketing and lobbying tactics of the food industry, which promotes and profits from high-sugar foods, should also be considered if we are to take the problem seriously. There is \u201cno specific correlation between the number of NHS dentists and young children with tooth decay\u201d because the damage has been done and habits established before most children get to see a dentist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Incidentally, a bit more advice at the earliest stages would have significant health benefits in\u00a0other\u00a0respects too.<br \/><strong>Nick Hopkinson<\/strong><br \/>York<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"><strong> Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2025\/sep\/04\/mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city\/town\/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.\" data-link-name=\"in body link \" https:=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>email<\/strong><\/a><strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/letters\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>letters<\/strong><\/a><strong> section.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No one will argue against the benefits of good oral hygiene (The Guardian view on the dental divide:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-399212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115150156548748226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}