In the past, sugar was considered an exceptional food and was reserved for the sick or consumed at parties. It has become a food consumed every day since the development of industrial sugar production a century ago. For a long time, tooth decay only affected adults, and it began to reach children in parallel with the development of the sugar industry.

Today it is a disease that affects especially the child, the adolescent and the young adult; its frequency decreases after 40 years. It is a public health problem that is very costly. In France, at the age of 6, two-thirds of children already have at least one cavity.

Sugar and caries go hand-in-hand
Dental caries and food
Caries is a phenomenon of demineralization of the hard tissues of the tooth (enamel, dentin, cementum), caused by the acidic environment created by the sugars brought by the diet and certain bacteria from the dental plaque. Sugar consumption is therefore a decisive factor in the formation of caries. The most "cariogenic" sugars are fast sugars, especially sucrose, the main component of cane and beet sugar. It is the most used in confectionery. Then come glucose (derived industrially from corn, used in pastry), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and starch (slow sugar cereals and starchy), which is much less cariogenic.

See also our article: Sugars and caries


An innate attraction to the sweet taste
The taste for sugar is innate and from birth the newborn prefers sweet water to pure water. He prefers "strong" sugars, sucrose and fructose, to "weak" sugars. This predominance for sweetness will gradually decrease with the acquisition of new tastes, bitter being the longest to be accepted.

For a long time the sugar remains for the child a food apart. It has a calming effect and is the surest way to calm it down. Provoking a secretion of endorphins, it would cause a certain dependence, demonstrated by the difficult weaning of the sweet bottle of the evening ...

Hereditary caries?

Sweetened water and other sugary drinks (sodas, fruit juices) given to the bottle-feeding baby to feed or calm it are directly responsible for "bottle caries". These multiple caries of the upper teeth, caused by the prolonged contact of the sweet liquid on the teeth are typical of the young child.

In adolescents, there are "flashing caries" because the young permanent teeth are less mineralized and allow the rapid development of decay, which is only revealed at a very advanced stage.

Genetic inheritance of caries is not proven; the incidence of caries in some families is rather due to a transmission of eating habits, with a high consumption of confectionery in childhood.

In children, sugar has a high symbolic and affective value: children are rewarded or deprived of candies ... it is therefore difficult to suppress sugar but it can be limited and, above all, it can be used to flavor other flavors.

Caries prevention

Hygiene is fundamental: it prevents the formation of dental plaque and the action of bacteria.

Prevention relies on three inseparable elements:

Fluoride, given as a supplement from infancy to adolescence by the dentist's prescription, improves the resistance of teeth to decay;
Strict oral hygiene and regular dental checks every 6 months;
The limitation of cariogenic sugars; it is the least controllable factor because the sugar in all its forms is everywhere, in the cupboards and the refrigerators and in all the places which the child frequents. It retains a high symbolic and cultural value in certain populations. Yet nutritional education is achieving results in caries prevention, especially in favored classes. Like other nutritional imbalances (eg obesity), caries has become a disease of the poor.
Adult dental health

Dental caries and food

In the past, sugar was considered an exceptional food and was reserved for the sick or consumed at parties. It has become a food consumed every day since the development of industrial sugar production a century ago. For a long time, tooth decay only affected adults, and it began to reach children in parallel with the development of the sugar industry.

Today it is a disease that affects especially the child, the adolescent and the young adult; its frequency decreases after 40 years. It is a public health problem that is very costly. In France, at the age of 6, two-thirds of children already have at least one cavity.

Sugar and caries go hand-in-hand
Dental caries and food
Caries is a phenomenon of demineralization of the hard tissues of the tooth (enamel, dentin, cementum), caused by the acidic environment created by the sugars brought by the diet and certain bacteria from the dental plaque. Sugar consumption is therefore a decisive factor in the formation of caries. The most "cariogenic" sugars are fast sugars, especially sucrose, the main component of cane and beet sugar. It is the most used in confectionery. Then come glucose (derived industrially from corn, used in pastry), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and starch (slow sugar cereals and starchy), which is much less cariogenic.

See also our article: Sugars and caries


An innate attraction to the sweet taste
The taste for sugar is innate and from birth the newborn prefers sweet water to pure water. He prefers "strong" sugars, sucrose and fructose, to "weak" sugars. This predominance for sweetness will gradually decrease with the acquisition of new tastes, bitter being the longest to be accepted.

For a long time the sugar remains for the child a food apart. It has a calming effect and is the surest way to calm it down. Provoking a secretion of endorphins, it would cause a certain dependence, demonstrated by the difficult weaning of the sweet bottle of the evening ...

Hereditary caries?

Sweetened water and other sugary drinks (sodas, fruit juices) given to the bottle-feeding baby to feed or calm it are directly responsible for "bottle caries". These multiple caries of the upper teeth, caused by the prolonged contact of the sweet liquid on the teeth are typical of the young child.

In adolescents, there are "flashing caries" because the young permanent teeth are less mineralized and allow the rapid development of decay, which is only revealed at a very advanced stage.

Genetic inheritance of caries is not proven; the incidence of caries in some families is rather due to a transmission of eating habits, with a high consumption of confectionery in childhood.

In children, sugar has a high symbolic and affective value: children are rewarded or deprived of candies ... it is therefore difficult to suppress sugar but it can be limited and, above all, it can be used to flavor other flavors.

Caries prevention

Hygiene is fundamental: it prevents the formation of dental plaque and the action of bacteria.

Prevention relies on three inseparable elements:

Fluoride, given as a supplement from infancy to adolescence by the dentist's prescription, improves the resistance of teeth to decay;
Strict oral hygiene and regular dental checks every 6 months;
The limitation of cariogenic sugars; it is the least controllable factor because the sugar in all its forms is everywhere, in the cupboards and the refrigerators and in all the places which the child frequents. It retains a high symbolic and cultural value in certain populations. Yet nutritional education is achieving results in caries prevention, especially in favored classes. Like other nutritional imbalances (eg obesity), caries has become a disease of the poor.