Role of Sugar Industry in Growing Dental Conditions
Sugar companies located in the United States of America cooperated closely with health organizations in the 1950s. Thanks to this cooperation these both sides developed dental policies and the main message of these policies was not to reduce the consumption of sugar by children but to contribute money into development of decay treatments and sealants.
The suggestions to reduce sugar consumption would ruin sugar industries and as a result these companies promoted financial contributions into the research of a tooth decay vaccine and related sealants. This approach would never conflict with the marketing of different products made of sugar. These activities are really similar to those ones performed by tobacco companies. Right now, people do understand that to prevent any tooth decay you should restrict sugar consumption and now we can freely talk about it.
The problem is that this approach could be developed 50 years ago. It is evident that sugar companies are looking for the ways to protect their profits and they deny all the possible accusations. Of course, we cannot live without sugar nowadays and we take it in all possible forms but there are possible ways to reduce the risk of cavities by combining sugar consumption with consumption of fluoridated water. Brushing and flossing on a regular basis may help reduce the effects of sugar we take.
Right now Americans turned drink more non-fluoridated water which increases the risks of cavities and may turn into a decline in dental health. Also, we cannot deny the fact that sugar companies have contributed a lot of money into developing different ways to reduce the number of dental problems and ways to prevent them. It is not just sugar companies that didn’t do anything to restrict sugar consumption but dentists could also educate their patients on all the risks of high sugar intake.
Photo by Romain Behar [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
