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5 Food Rules to Help Prevent Braces in Your Child

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Every parent wants their child to have a healthy smile. That’s why going to the dentist can be a nerve-racking affair!

Does your child have cavities?

What’s that spot on their gums?

Or worst of all…

Does my child need braces?

One big problem with traditional dentistry is that it sees dental disease as inevitable. I’m here to share with you a crucial piece of information that every parent should know.

Orthodontic braces CAN be prevented.

You may ask, why you haven’t been told this before? Well, the problem has been that we haven’t identified crooked teeth as a growth problem. And it all begins with food.

We’re all familiar with the fact that sugar causes tooth decay. As a dentist, I’m also all too familiar with how hard it is for parents to help their kids escape the clutches of sugar!

For a long time in practice this bothered me. Even kids themselves know they shouldn’t eat sugar, but when they’re surrounded by it, of course a sweet treat wins out.

That’s why I wrote The Dental Diet. Dental nutrition and healthy kid’s teeth goes far beyond just cutting out sugar.

Your child’s dental health relies on eating the RIGHT foods. And when you replace their diet with nourishing, nutrient dense meals, their body’s won’t want the sugar as much anyway.

And, we now have functional dental treatment that alongside nutrition, that can help your child’s mouth grow naturally!

Here’s 5 simple nourishing rules for healthy kid’s teeth.

  • Breathing is first! – The first nutrient your child needs is oxygen. You can see if your child is getting enough oxygen by just checking their breathing. We are designed to breathe through our noses. When we do so, it helps expand the upper jaw, which is what gives us a straight smile. Kids who mouth breath are at risk of a high palate, and narrow jaw.
  • Chew – Young jaws are like any other joint in the body. To grow big and strong they need exercise. The best exercise is through food. Make sure to feed your kids lots of raw vegetables, meat to tear off the bone and cured tough foods to use those chompers.
  • Vitamin D – We know that vitamin D helps kids to have strong bones. But it’s also crucial to prevent tooth decay and provide the building blocks for growing jaws.
  • Vitamin K2 – This is a little-known nutrient that is crucial for straight teeth. Vitamin K2 works with vitamin D to put calcium into bones and teeth. It also activates the growth hormones and sex hormones that signal a child’s jaw to grow. Make sure to include vitamin K2 rich foods.
  • Fiber galor! One of the ways to prevent cavities is to make sure your child has plenty of probiotic microbes in their oral environment. The best way to ensure this is to make sure they eat a wide variety of:

Check if your child breathes through their nose. When they watch television, do they sit with an open mouth? Do they sleep with an open mouth? Do they have allergies blocking their nose?

Make sure your kid gets at least 30 minutes of sunlight per day.

Also, include vitamin D rich foods in their diet like:

  • Fatty fish like tuna mackerel and salmon
  • Oily fish
  • Beef Liver
  • Egg yolks

There are two types of vitamin K2. Make sure your kid eats plenty of both.

Vitamin K2 Rich Foods

  • Goose, duck or chicken liver pate
  • Dark chicken meats (leg or thigh)
  • Grass raised butter or dairy
  • Fermented foods like sauerkraut
  • Edam cheese
  • Goude cheese
  • Brie
  • Raw vegetables (think of the crunch factor)
  • Cooked vegetables (cooked in natural fats)
  • Fermented cultured foods (like yoghurt, sauerkraut or kombucha). There you have it! Five simple rules to make sure your kid grows up with a stunning a

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