An oral health expert is flagging up the dangers of sugary medicines to children’s teeth.
The warning comes in light of fresh evidence that many healthcare professionals are unaware of the dental decay caused by frequently taken liquid medicines containing sugar.
Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) is alerting health professionals and the public on the decaying effects following a report by specialists at a Dublin hospital.
He says: ‘Sugar content of many child medications presents a real problem for oral health. For many medicines given orally, such as syrups to children, there are sugar-free alternatives available which will not have adverse effects on the dentition.
‘Unfortunately, for both over-the-counter medicines and prescribed medicines, these are usually more costly than those containing sugar, and this presents a disincentive for the parent to buy or the practitioner to prescribe the sugar-free alternative.’
The source of the warning comes from a report in the Irish Medical Journal by specialists at the Department of Paediatric Dentistry in Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin.
They say that most medicines for children are in a liquid form so that they can be easily swallowed and that, to make these more palatable, sugar is used in the preparation process.
They wrote: ‘Sucrose is the most frequently used sugar, due to its low cost, resistance to bacterial decomposition, long shelf life and its syrupy consistency.
‘Artificial sweeteners are frequently used instead of sucrose in liquid medications to avoid the harmful effects of sugar-containing formulations on dental health, but their use is not universal.
‘Some liquid medicines are available in both sugar-free and sugar-containing forms and the packaging of both formulations may be similar in appearance,” the specialists from the wrote in.
‘For example, there is an abundance of formulations of liquid paracetamol, ibuprofen and antitussives available over the counter and careful examination is required to differentiate between sugar-free and sugar-containing versions.’
One study found patients were more likely to ask their pharmacist for sugar-free medicine than their GP.
The reasons for this included a reluctance to interfere with a professional decision, as well as the assumption the doctor will know best.
Doctors and healthcare professionals should prescribe sugar-free liquid medicines or medicines in tablet form if possible. If the medicine is only available in a sugar-containing liquid formulation, advice should be given to the child’s parents and carers.
Dr Carter added weight to this argument, saying: ‘Patients and practitioners need to have a greater awareness of the risks of sugar containing medications particularly when these are taken regularly for chronic conditions and to look for sugar-free alternatives.’
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