Activity 2D: Eating Habits and Oral Health

1. Suppose that Maria and Sara each drink one soft drink on Saturday. Maria drinks her soft drink all at lunch while Sara drinks some at lunch, some after talking on the phone, some more after playing basketball, and finishes it off for dinner. Each girl has put the same ingredients into her body, but the frequency has a different effect on the teeth. Whose way of drinking the soft drink do you think is better as far as oral health is concerned? Explain your answer
   1. (Maria's way is better because she invites an acid attack once while Sara invites it four times.)

1. John and Mike each drank 8 oz of apple juice. Mike used a common device so that the effect of the sugar in the apple juice was not as great as it was for John. What do you think Mike used? Why did it help?

(Mike used a straw thus limiting the contact that the juice had with Mike's teeth.)

1. Monique and Jessie both ate lunch in the cafeteria. Monique ate a hamburger, then fries, then a slice of cake, and ended lunch with an apple. Jessie ate his hamburger and fries, then his apple, saving his slice of cake for the end of lunch. They ate the same foods, but one person's lunch was better with regard to oral hygiene. Who's lunch was better and why?

(Monique's was better. By eating the apple last it helped to rid the mouth of some of the other food particles.)

1. Juan and Reginald both help feed and put their baby sisters to bed. Juan gives his sister a bottle of juice to drink in her crib. She falls to sleep with the bottle in her mouth. Reginald gives his sister a bottle of juice, then puts her to bed when she is done with the juice. Who is practicing good oral health for the babies, and why?

(Reginald's way was better; Juan's baby sister's mouth has constant contact with the sugary bottle, which will promote decay of her baby teeth.)