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.