Healthy Food and Beverage Standards
“Help! I need a doctor!” Mona’s mother was frantic. “She’s in pain. Someone please help!” Mona, a four-year-old girl who loves chocolate milk, was wailing in fear in my dental chair.
Finally, after I delivered the anesthetic, Mona’s tooth was numb. I was seeing Mona for her second emergency tooth extraction. This is not how I wanted the situation to play out, but Mona was a fearful four-year-old with cavities. Typically, a child with this much dental fear is treated with sedation to make the extraction procedure more comfortable and less anxiety-inducing. However, my next available dental sedation appointment was 10 months away because so many other patients also needed treatment for similar dental disease. Furthermore, Mona was overweight, which made sedation relatively contraindicated due to increased risks of adverse outcomes. The only help that I could offer was an emergency extraction. I reassured Mona’s mother, “Mona’s tooth is getting numb. It’s not pleasant but I assure you she is not feeling pain.” Six minutes later, after tears, more anxious cries and a skillful tug, the tooth was out.
Chocolate milk was new to Mona a few months ago. She entered transitional kindergarten last fall and fell in love with it. Soon, mom was buying chocolate milk for home, too. Since starting school, Mona would no longer accept plain milk and the extra calories contributed to Mona’s weight gain, increasing her risks for adverse health consequences like diabetes and hypertension. Sadly, Mona was not alone. Children get a taste for cavity-causing sugar-sweetened beverages, like juice and chocolate milk, that are introduced and made available at schools and daycare.
As...