It can be tricky to get smaller children into the habit of brushing their teeth, but new research claims that even that might not be enough for good dental health.

A study of over 4,000 children aged between two and five years old in Scotland showed that snacking is a major contributor to tooth decay in young kids. The children in the study who snacked all day, rather than just eating meals, were more likely to have dental decay. Two-year-olds who brushed their teeth less than once a day or not at all were twice twice as likely to have dental decay by the age of five. A child's socio-economic background appears to play a role too, as there was a correlation between sugar consumption and levels of deprivation. The researchers, based at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities also concluded that teeth-brushing alone isn't enough to ward off decay. They stressed that the dental hygiene habits formed in childhood tend to influence a person's lifelong dental health. Sugar remains a big issue, according to study co-author Dr Stephanie Chamber of the University of Glasgow. "Among children eating sweets or chocolate once a day or more, tooth brushing more often - once or twice a day or more - reduced the likelihood of decay compared with less frequent brushing." The study was published in the Journal of Public Health.