'Parents experienced real difficulty in controlling their children's demand for sweets, biscuits and chocolates in an environment where sugary snacks are so readily available,' researchers at the University of Dundee's Dental Health Services and Research Unit said in the study in the Health Education Journal.
Parents from varied social backgrounds with children aged three to 12 whose teeth had to be extracted took part in the study. Many of them confessed to using sweets 'to control their children's tantrums' and made a plea for schools to ban sweets because they were 'everywhere.'
Comments included: 'A lot of parents would be grateful if schools said no sweets' and 'Shopping's not easy if you have children with you because they want everything but the right thing'. Another said, 'It's a nightmare when the ice cream van comes around.'
Research fellow Patricia Smith, co-author of Living in a sweetie culture: Scottish parents' difficulties in maintaining their children's oral health, said, 'The study highlights the difficulties parents have in an environment where sweet treats are considered the norm - the sweetie culture that we Scots are familiar with. It also explains why there remains a substantial number of children whose dental health is very poor, despite the host of dental health promotions.'
Heavy advertising of sweets and drinks was cited by the parents as one source of their difficulties. UK Children's Food Campaign co-ordinator Christine Haigh, said, 'This research provides evidence of the difficulty of improving children's diets in the UK's unhealthy food environment. Real regulation, and not pathetic voluntary codes, is needed to protect children from advertising for sweets and other junk food.'
Rates of improvement in children's dental health that were experienced in the past have slowed down, according to the National Dental Inspection Programme of Scotland, leaving Scots children with the highest levels of tooth decay in Europe. Tooth extractions under general anaesthetic account for one quarter of all child admissions to hospitals.
Since 2005 the Scottish government has invested £12m a year in Childsmile, a family programme that targets babies and children at nursery and the first two years of primary school.
Parents were found to be unaware of the importance of supervising young children during teeth brushing to ensure they use the correct technique.
Professor in Dental Public Health Research and report co-author Ruth Freeman said, 'Parents want to do their best for their children, but it is sometimes an uphill struggle. Health education should be targeted at parents as well as children.'
FURTHER INFORMATION
The study is published in the quarterly Health Education Journal 2009 68: 255-265.
