Did you know?

• If you look after your teeth, you can keep them forever.
• Teeth are the hardest part of your body.
• Sharks have three rows of teeth, and they grow new ones if they lose any.
• Fluoride was introduced into toothpaste in the 1970’s.
• Fluoride was introduced into the water supply in Adelaide in 1971. Kids in South Australia now have much healthier teeth than their parents had because the fluoride makes their teeth stronger.
• If your family uses only rain or spring water, or you live in a country area that does not have fluoridated water, check with the dentist about using fluoride drops or tablets.
• In the year 1770, the first toothbrush was invented and so were the first false teeth [made out of porcelain] by William Addis in England.
• In the year 1790, John Greenwood of USA invented the dental drill. It was very big and heavy and the dentist had to turn a handle [like using a hand drill for drilling holes in wood] to drill out all the bad bits in the tooth. It was a very slow and painful process and people only went to the dentist when they couldn’t stand the pain of toothache any longer!

It must have been a bit terrifying to go to the dentist in the olden days. Nowadays it is very different.

Are your teeth crooked and you are afraid you might need braces? Do you know what to do if someone has a tooth knocked out? If you want to know the answers to these questions, have a look at the topic ‘Problems with teeth’.

Tooth-friendly foods and drinks

• Choose a wide variety of healthy foods every day.
• Foods such as dairy foods (milk, cheese and yoghurt) have lots of calcium in them, which helps develop strong healthy teeth.
• If you can’t have dairy foods, look for foods which have calcium added (not all soy drinks have added calcium).
• Don’t have lots of snacks between meals, especially ones that contain sugars and acids. These cause plaque to build up on teeth, which can cause tooth decay.
• Choose water as your main drink. Tap water is best because it contains fluoride which hardens and repairs the enamel surface of teeth. Rinsing out your mouth with water after you have had something to eat helps stop plaque building up too. Tank water and bottled water (spring water) don’t have fluoride in them, so they don’t protect teeth as well as tap water.
• Where possible, choose medicines and cough lollies that are sugar free.