Abstract
Besides information concerning the metabolism of sucrose and its content in food, it is also of high relevancy the relationship between the content of sucrose and the development of dental cavities.
We investigated the content of sucrose in different pharmaceutical syrups, since it is hardly known whether they contain sucrose or not.
The results were as follows:
1. The majority of the drugs studied contained more than 800 mg of sucrose per gram of medicine.
2. About 88% of those who answered the questionnaire had experienced rejection of the drugs and,50% of them said they could take the drugs after maskarading the taste of the drugs by mixing them with juice or drinking juice immediately after taking the drugs.
3. Only about 35% said they had brushed their teeth or rinsed their mouths after taking the drugs. However, the purposed of this was to wash away the taste of the drug and not as an oral hygiene measure. From the results presented above we conclude that attention must be paid when prescribing pharmaceutical syrups. First, because of the possibility of inducing bad feeding habits in children, since taking pharmaceutical syrups is similar to having sweetmeats. Second, because of the role of sucrose in the development of dental cavities.
Taking these facts into consideration, children and parents must be informed about the importance of oral hygiene after taking pharmaceutical syrups.
