As a parent, I understand the need to give your children vitamins. You want to make sure that they are getting all the nutrients that they are supposed to get to grow up to be healthy adults. You want to make sure that your picky eater is getting everything they need for proper development. You want to make sure that even if you feed your kid Captain Crunch for breakfast, fries for lunch and ice cream for dinner, their bodies will still get all they need to grow. I get it, I promise that I get it. As a wife and mother, I approve of gummy vitamins!
Now, as a pediatric dentist, I do not approve! In fact, I want to jump up and down and scream, NO, NO, NO!! Well, maybe not jump up and down….I might scare the kids i’m working on, but I do want to let parents know that the majority of gummy vitamins on the market are pretty much fortified candies. They have sugar in them just like candy; and just like candy, they cause CAVITIES. I’ve unfortunately encountered many parents who brush their children’s teeth religiously and come in to the office only to find that little Johnny and Betty Sue have cavities even though they brush regularly, avoid chocolate (and pretty much anything yummy), drink only water….and chew a gummy multivitamin right before bed <===That’s the problem! The gelatin is nice and sticky and embeds itself into the crevices and creases of the biting surfaces of children’s teeth and the sugar provides a lovely source of food and energy for the germs in your child’s mouth. Gummy vitamins aren’t completely horrible if you brush afterwards (very, VeRy well) but they will lead you straight CavityLand otherwise. Please, dispense and enjoy gummy vitamins with caution!!!