It might be worth reminding your patients coming to your teeth whitening clinics about Public Health England’s (PHE’s) latest smartphone app, Sugar Smart, which has been launched to help prevent tooth decay.
The app is part of PHE’s Change4life health programme and all your patients have to do to help protect their teeth is to scan the barcodes of various products to find out just how much sugar is actually in the food and drink they’re eating. It’s hoped that by arming themselves with this information people will be able to make better, healthier choices where diet is concerned.
That’s not all, however. The app also comes with lots of Sugar Smart recipes that people can download and use to help them be healthier in the new year. It covers breakfast, drinks, after-school snacks and puddings, so you can still enjoy your food but do so safe in the knowledge that your teeth and general health are being well cared for at the same time.
Patients with young children may be especially interested in finding out more about the app. Figures from PHE suggest that children are actually consuming three times more sugar than they should be – and all too often the problem is that sugar is hidden in food and drink, and parents are none the wiser.
What you might well think is healthy could actually be quite bad for you, which is where this app will really come in handy. If you know your patients are keen to be healthier this year, perhaps suggest they take a look at Sugar Smart.
