Parents are damaging their children's teeth by allowing them to drink too much juice and soft drinks, say the Irish Dental Association.
The problem is so serious that growing numbers of children aged five and under are having teeth pulled under general anaesthetic, said the association's Dr Bridget Harrington-Barry.
"There is a huge problem with children under five," she said.
"Children are presenting to dentists in pain . . . it's all to do with developing bad habits at a very young age, and it's the parents who let them develop those habits," said Dr Harrington-Barry, the president of the IDA's public dental surgeons' group.
The IDA highlighted the results of the 2006 North South Survey of Children's Oral Health, which found cavities among almost half of Irish children under five from non-fluoridated areas. About 30 per cent of children from fluoridated areas had cavities. Young children should drink water or milk, said Dr Harrington-Barry, not sugary drinks like juice. One of the worst possible habits, she said, is to give an infant a bottle containing a sweet drink at bedtime.
"They should be breast fed, or weaned from a bottle at the earliest possible age. If they're taking a bottle to bed at a very young age, plaque begins accumulating within 20 minutes, and it's hammering away at their teeth all night." Dentists refer to it as "nursing bottle decay", said Dr Harrington-Barry.