Looking After Your Teeth

A healthy diet is important for general health and your dental health. Eating and drinking too much sugar too often can increase the chance of tooth decay.

Added sugar is sugar that has been added to food to make it sweeter. This is not just the white sugar that you might think of it includes fruit juice, honey and syrups.
You do not need to worry about sugar in:

• plain milk
• plain yoghurts
• whole fresh fruit
• whole vegetables.

Sugar in fruit juice, smoothies, diluting juice and dried fruit (such as raisins) can be damaging. Limit these to one small glass or portion per day and drink with a meal. Sugars in dairy-alternative drinks such as soya, rice and oat milk drinks can also be damaging to teeth. For more information looks at Hidden sugars from Childsmile.

Children are getting a lot of sugar from:

• fizzy and juice drinks
• Buns, cakes, pastries and biscuits
• Breakfast cereals and yoghurts
• Sweets, chocolate and ice cream

Eating and drinking too much sugar too often can lead to painful tooth decay. Nearly 8000 teeth are extracted in hospital across Scotland every year due to extensive tooth decay.

The maximum daily amounts of added sugar by age are shown below.

Age                           Maximum daily amounts of added sugar
4 to 6 years               5 cubes (19 grams)
7 to 10 years             6 cubes (24 grams)
11 years and over      7 cubes (30 grams)

It can be helpful to check the labels on food packaging to help you make healthy choices for your child or young person.

The traffic light system on food packaging will tell you whether a product is high in sugars. Avoid Red labelled sugars and limit amber labelled sugars. Be careful, the % values are for an adult not for a child. Six squares of milk chocolate contain about 15g of sugar.

Each serving (150g) contains

of an adult's reference intake

Typical values (as sold) per 100g: 697kj/ 167kcal

Try the NHS Food Scanner app to help you make healthy choices.

You can also try the sugar calculator to see how much sugar you and your family could be eating each day.

Other Dietary Tips

• Plain water and milk are the only safe drinks between meals
• Fizzy drinks have no place in a child’s daily diet.
• Fruit juice – best kept to mealtimes and no more than 150ml a day
• Avoid sugar containing foods and drinks between meals.
• If having a treat, have this as a dessert with a meal not as a snack
• Always ask for sugar free medicines.

For more information look at Food and drinks for healthy teeth from Childsmile.

Visit the dentist at least once a year to help keep your teeth and gums healthy.

You might also meet the dental nurse, dental hygienist or dental therapist.

The dental team will lie you back in a chair and check your mouth with a light and small mirror, it can be helpful to practice lying back and opening your mouth wide before you go.

The videos below by Lifelong Smiles can show you what to expect at the first appointment.

Let them know of any issues you are having with brushing and they can help.

If you have braces, they will give you special advice on cleaning them.

Someone in the dental team might paint on a fluoride varnish that will help keep your teeth strong, usually at least twice a year.

Application of fluoride varnish and fissure sealant

When your first adult molars come in they can be hard to clean, a fissure sealant can be placed to help prevent against decay. A fissure sealant is a plastic coating placed on the chewing surfaces to help stop food and bacteria getting stuck in the grooves.

Ask your dental clinician about fluoride varnish and fissure sealants.

Some children may struggle with the taste or texture of toothpastes.

You can get a variety of different flavours of toothpastes including flavour free. You must make sure that whatever toothpaste you use it is the correct strength of 1450ppm fluoride.

Non-foaming toothpastes contain no or low amount of Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) which provides the foaming action. SLS-free toothpaste may be beneficial if:

• Your child finds toothpaste irritates the lining or corners of their mouth
• They struggle with the texture of regular toothpaste
• They have difficulties with their swallow or are nil by mouth.

A manual toothbrush with small head and medium bristles, battery operated or electric toothbrush can be used depending on your child’s preference. If your child struggles with either of these, please ask a dental professional for advice on alternative brushes you can try.

As your child grows up and their adult teeth erupt, daily interdental cleaning may be recommended by your dental professional and they can demonstrate different tools like floss and interdental brushes professional.

Disclosing tablets are another useful tool the dental team may recommend because they stain plaque making it easier to see where to brush.

Childsmile (2025) Toothbrushing. Available at / (Accessed 29 May 2025).

Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (2025) Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children. 3rd edn. Dundee: NHS Education for Scotland.

National Health Service (no date). Sugar. Available at / (Accessed 29 May 2025).

Department of Health and Social Care (2021) Chapter 10: Healthier Eating. Available at  (Accessed 29 May 2025).

Scottish Government. 2018. Scotland’s Public Health Priorities. Available at  (Accessed 29 May 2025)

NHS Inform (2024). Taking care of your oral health. Available at  (Accessed 29 May 2025).

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2004). Dental checks: intervals between oral health reviews. (Accessed 29 May 2025).

Widget Health (no date) Arriving at the dentist. (Accessed 29 May 2025).

Department of Health and Social Care (2021) Chapter 8: Oral hygiene. (Accessed 29 May 2025).