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Sugar provides food for your mouth's bacteria which then produce acids to attack your teeth.

No wonder dentists want us to reduce the sugar in our diets. Perhaps you have cut back on candy and pop but there are lots of other sources of sugar. Statistics Canada stated that Canadian children ranging in age from 1 to 13 get more than 25% of the daily calories from sugar more than any other age group.

Cutting down on processed food helps but there are other natural sounding sources of sugar that may surprise you. Here is a few of sneaky sugar:.baked beans, barbecue sauce, bread, breakfast cereal,cookies, crackers, dried fruit, frozen dinners, fruit juice, fruit spreads, fruit yogurt, granola, and other multigrain cereals, granola bars, iced tea, instant oatmeal, ketchup, muffins and muffin mixes, pasta sauce, peanut butter, potato chips, protein drinks, some reduced fat products, sports drinks, salad dressings.

If you can not resist a sugary treat eat it with a meal rather than on its own, because the higher saliva flow that occurs during a meal will neutralize the acids that develop when you have sugar. In a pinch chew on sugarless gum such as one sweetened with xylitol, a natural sugar substitute which may help to remineralize tooth enamel.

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Sweet and Sneaky