Top Tips for Promoting Oral Health in Early Years

Louise Mercieca
Nutritional therapist

Parent Guide

15 min

This free guide has expert suggestions on how EYFS practitioners and parents can help young children to understand the importance of oral health.
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Oral health encompasses so much more than simply dental hygiene. Yes, brushing our teeth is profoundly important, of course – but so are building (and maintaining) the overall strength of our teeth, looking after our gums and preventing possible infections in the mouth. Early childhood is an ideal time to lay down these future oral health foundations.

This guide can help parents and practitioners introduce the key concepts of oral health to young children. Among other things, it explains how nutrition impacts on oral health; what foods are especially important in helping to build and protect teeth; which key nutrients support the health of our gums; and exactly why too much sugar is bad for our mouths.

Louise Mercieca

Louise believes that to feed a child is a wonderful thing but to fully understand the impact that food has on early childhood development is truly empowering. She bases her work on the knowledge that food doesn’t just fill us up, it shapes our every movement, action, and emotion. She currently works as a consultant to nurseries and catering providers on menu development, along with delivering staff training on nutrition and child development. 

Since 2018, she has focused specifically on early years, having worked as a nutritional therapist prior to this. Louise makes nutrition education accessible and reflective of the real impact that food has on child development, along with our own physical and mental health. Louise makes biology fun and, ultimately, this helps to shape the health of a generation.

Louise feels the best way to help to shape the health of the next generation is via education. Education enables empowerment, as understanding is the key to being as in control as you can be of your own nutrition.

See more from Louise Mercieca