Poster, with a dental health message, featuring an image of a young child being offered a chocolate bar, with the message 'He said his first word today…so Mummy gave him something to rot away his teeth', produced by the Health Education Authority, England, 1992

An image of a young child being offered a chocolate bar carries the message: 'He said his first word today…so Mummy gave him something to rot away his teeth'. The dental health poster was produced by the Health Education Authority in 1992. A major cause of tooth decay is the over-consumption of sweets, sugar-sweetened foods and high-sugar fizzy drinks. Sugars encourage acid production. This slowly damages teeth, leading to decay.