8 things other countries do to protect kids’ teeth that I am definitely stealing

We spend more in the US on dental care than any nation on earth and our kids still get cavities at rates other countries would consider a public health failure.

The difference isn’t genetics, though, it’s policy, habits and lifestyle. Steal these for yourself and your family, I know I have…

1. Finland: xylitol after lunch

After lunch, daycares hand every child a xylitol pastille (a little dissolvable tablet, no chewing or choking risk), and the older kids chew xylitol gum. They’ve even got a name for it—the “Smart Habit”—and a lot of towns foot the bill. Xylitol is a birch sugar that starves the main cavity bug and keeps it from sticking to teeth. It’s one of the reasons xylitol is an ingredient in Fygg toothpaste.

2. Japan: brush with the mineral teeth are made of

Japan has had hydroxyapatite toothpaste on drugstore shelves since 1980, and their government approved it as an anti-cavity ingredient back in 1993. Kids there grow up brushing with the same mineral their enamel is made of. As for American kids, many of them are still waiting…but brands like Fygg are catching on (did you know Fygg is sold at over 1,000 dental offices?)

3. Sweden: Saturday candy

Sweden has lördagsgodis, or Saturday candy. Kids eat sweets one day a week instead of grazing daily. They figured this out in the 1950s: it’s how OFTEN sugar hits the teeth that causes cavities, not how much. Every snack turns the mouth acidic for 20 minutes or more, so ten little nibbles is ten acid baths; the same candy in one sitting is one.

4. France: nothing to sip on

France banned food and drink vending machines from every school in the country in 2005. Cavities are a disease of diet so this is major. Refined foods and fermentable carbohydrates increase the risk of dental disease, so perhaps, instead of “sugar bugs” we might start saying “potato chip bugs”? Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it…😉

5. The rest of Europe: minerals at the table

Did you know saliva is made from blood plasma? What’s circulating in your blood ends up in your saliva. Mineral-rich saliva can remineralize enamel after every acid attack. Depleted saliva can’t. I love this magnesium drink for kids (and adults too).

6. Scotland: supervision

Scotland runs supervised toothbrushing in nurseries across the country as a national program. Every child brushes at school, every day, with someone watching technique. Cavity rates in Scottish kids have dropped since it launched. You have to brush and floss your child’s teeth until they gain the proper coordination to do it effectively themselves—that’s usually eight years old (or older!)

7. Japan again: dental exams by law

In Japan, a school dentist examines every child at least once a year. It’s the law. And they’re not just counting cavities … they check gum health and how the jaw is developing, which is exactly where airway problems show up first. My five-year-old grandson already has a palate expander from an airway orthodontist on the Functional Dentist Directory, but this is definitely not something that would have been prescribed by a typical American dentist operating under the old drill, fill and bill model.

8. Brazil: tongue tie checks at the hospital

Brazil screens every newborn in the country for tongue-tie before they leave the hospital. It’s federal law, and Brazil was the first country in the world to require it. A restricted tongue can’t rest against the palate, and the palate needs that pressure to develop wide enough for straight teeth and an open airway. Brazil has led the world in orofacial myofunctional research for decades—so it’s no surprise they were the first country to make checking a newborn’s tongue the law. If you need help in this area, check out my airway checklist.

-Dr. B

P.S. What I use every day to keep my teeth strong and my oral microbiome nourished: This toothpaste, this mouthwash alternative, this tongue scraper, this electric flosser, this green tea, this throat spray, these enzymes with meals, this Vitamin D3/K2, this CoQ10, this magnesium every night night, and these electrolytes.