Dentist in tesco tackled me

[Spiceb]

Shopping with 3 year old yesterday. Stopped by the raisins. Old woman came up to me and said "excuse me but please don't buy them. They are terribly bad for teeth" I must have looked incredulous because her husband stepped in to say she was a dentist

Aibu to think go away and let me shop in peace? I'm a sensible grown adult who can make choices

Fuck man, what can I feed my kid ffs

Cheese is much better for the teeth.

Spectacularly missing the point. Yes, cheese is better for the teeth. But if you asked a dietician she would tell you that both cheese and dried fruit should be eaten in moderation due to the sugar in the raisins and the fat and salt in the cheese. The trouble is dentists just think about teeth professionally, there's more to health than teeth. Did she stop every overweight person and tell them to go on a diet? It doesn't matter if she was 'right', she was rude.

Another example, we all know eating a rainbow of fruit and veg is the healthiest thing for an individual to do but what is the environmental impact of airfreighting in all those colourful foods?

I didn’t know raisins were bad? I actually thought it’s a sweet treat alternative to actual sweets for kids

But what did you think makes them taste sweet if not sugar?

They both sound mentally unstable. Just ignore them and continue to make your own choices about what food you buy.

I'm a little disappointed - going off the title I thought that maybe you and the dentist were playing rugby in Tesco.

Eleanor, no, you didn’t

My mum is a paediatric dentist in a deprived area. It is heartbreaking to see a 6yo child undergo general anaesthetic to have most of their teeth removed due to untreatable decay caused by juice & squash in bottles, snacking on raisins etc.

So whilst her delivery wasn’t the best she did have your best interests at heart.

A dentist friend persuaded us raisins were far, far worse for teeth than most sweets. He kept a cupboard full of chocolate to give visiting little ones because he wanted to educate parents and children on the damage raisins could do.
Children adored him. Parents stopped thinking raisins were healthier than chocolate. Everyone was happy.
He was about thirty five when we first met at the nursery picking up time.

Agreed sundance. I knew they were full of sugar but didn't put two and two together regards to the stickiness - they must just glue to your teeth and do the devils work. Honestly, as long as she was polite I would've taken the advice and said thank you

None for our children have any fillings still. He was right to nag.

No significant resveratrol in raisins by the way. Green grapes.
misses point of thread

Purely anecdotal evidence: I wasn’t allowed ANY sweets or fizzy drinks as a child (milk chocolate bar once a week) but chomped my way through kilos of raisins and guzzled fruit juice. I have no fillings.

I would have been annoyed - once in a blue moon, I make fruit scones. I use whatever dried fruit there is in the cupboard, which might be raisins! I think DH does a Mediterranean stuffed chicken dish, which has raisins in it. I wouldn’t have thought eating such dishes occasionally is going to harm teeth any more than any other sugar, seeing as our dentist advised it is practically impossible to eat any meal, that does not contain sugar and the least harm to teeth is to get the sugar over and done with, rather than it coating the teeth all day! (Such as sucking mints, etc)

I would start shrieking that I had been attacked by a grapist
😂😂😂

I wonder if she actually was a dentist?? The advice is correct but it’s such an odd time to give it and I don’t think many people would respond well to this. I’m a GP and it’s hard enough giving advice people don’t want to hear in a professional context never mind going out round supermarkets to monitor people’s behaviour!

I'd have told her to mind her own bloody business. Or maybe I'd have had some fun critiquing everything she had in her basket.

Retired dentist, a raisin is a dried grape, it has the same sugar as 1 grape but because they are dried we eat more as a portion, someone might give a child 10-12 grapes but a small box of raisins is on average 50-70 dried grapes so has the size content of 50-70 grapes, also unlike grapes they adhere to teeth, doing probably as much damage as 100+ grapes. No one would give a child a 100 grapes as a portion.
People do try and do the right thing but actually a tube of smarties has less sugar than a flapjack muesli type bar.

you lot have ruined the thread with your remarks about age

Ruined?!

Don't be ridiculous.

Ageism has to be called out every time - along with racism and sexism and homophobia - because it's so insidious. Already another anecdote about an 'elderly swimming instructor'. Why is her age relevant here as well?

If the woman hadn't been old, would the OP have said 'Young woman came up to me...'? No. She wouldn't. She would just have said 'woman'. But making it clear the woman was 'old' brings a whole load of ageist associations with it. In particular, that they are interfering.

Someone else on the thread has already suggested she might have dementia

I have no idea why so many MNetters seem to think that ageism is acceptable, because (by and large) they wouldn't think that racist or sexist or homophobic comments would be.

*RiversDisguise

I would start shrieking that I had been attacked by a grapist.*

Gold!

Am I the only one who would have taken the advice on board and thanked her for the info?
Luckily not quite, but it does make you wonder about the mentality of some of the people on here.

oh dear - far too late. My kids have been having raisins (and sweets) for years and years. Out of the 3 children - there is one filling.

One.

And that's because he's rubbish at brushing his teeth.

I thought you meant a rugby tackle.

I didn’t know raisins were bad? I actually thought it’s a sweet treat alternative to actual sweets for kids 🤷‍♀️
They are worse than sweets because they stick to your teeth and because people think they are ok they feed them more often

However I would never have told you this in a supermarket

Ageist to the fruit as well. A raisin is an elderly grape. Did you need to mention the fruits age?