Halloween is full of fun, from dressing up and trick-or-treating to carving pumpkins. But if you don’t want your kids’ smiles to resemble a jack-o-lantern’s snaggle-toothed grin in the future, pay attention to the treats that go into their treat bags and into their mouths on Halloween.
At Northwoods Dental Group, we love to celebrate Halloween, too. It’s fun to “play” with horror, but not fun at all when the horror shows up as your child’s cavities, broken teeth, and bleeding gums.
To make sure your child’s annual pediatric dental exam and cleaning go well, and to avoid dental emergencies on Halloween, our kid-friendly expert dentist, Nathan Klabunde, DDS, and our entire team have some brief guidance to help you know what the best and worst Halloween treats are.
Though your child may not encounter any actual witches on Halloween, the sugar in candy can transform their clean, healthy teeth into rotten ones. Normal, healthy mouths are full of bacteria. Some of those bacteria are beneficial and help break down food as you chew.
However, mouths have bad bugs, too. Unhealthy germs thrive on the residue left over in your mouth after you eat a meal or snack. The bacteria transforms sugar residues into acid. Acid damages the protective enamel layer on teeth and eventually forms cavities.
Here’s a list of some treats that your kids (and you) should avoid to keep teeth from turning into ghosts:
Gummies, with their chewy, sticky goodness, are the absolute worst for your teeth because they get stuck on the surfaces and in between teeth. That gummy mess doesn’t go away until you brush and floss.
The longer sticky sugars coat your teeth, the higher the risk is of damaging enamel and getting cavities. Sticky, gooey badness applies to caramel-coated and candied apples, too. Don’t let the fruit underneath the surface fool you; those coatings are horrible for teeth.
Cavities occur both because of what’s on your teeth, and by how long it stays there. Therefore, anything that you keep in your mouth for a long time is a potential problem. A lollipop your kids suck on for a half-hour is worse than something they chew and swallow right away.
Hard candy can cause a dental emergency. Biting down on hard candy can cause chips, cracks, and breaks in teeth. Kids who crunch may be at risk of breaking their teeth. No one should ever crunch hard candy or ice, especially if you have weakened or compromised tooth enamel.
Although it’s fun to pucker, and sour candies may not seem quite as sugary as the purely sweet kind, these candies contain a lot of acid. Acid is the enemy of tooth enamel. Many sour candies are also gummies coated with extra sugar, so they’re a triple threat.
Cavities or no, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without at least a little candy. Pick the healthiest for you and your kids. Here are some of the better ones:
Chocolate is easier to rinse off your teeth than other types of candy. Unlike caramels and nougats that get stuck on teeth, chocolate melts nicely so that saliva can wash it away. That’s not to say that chocolate leaves no residue; it just leaves less than its candy cousins.
If you want to lessen the negative impact even more, choose dark chocolate. It has less sugar than milk chocolate, plus features a deeper, richer chocolate flavor.
Your kids may give you a skeptical look at this suggestion, but sugarless candy is the way to go if you really want to minimize tooth decay. Still make sure they brush and floss to get rid of food particles, but you won’t be fighting excess sugar, too.
Pick treats made with xylitol. But read the labels carefully. Treats made with sugar substitutes may contain other chemicals you don’t want.
Nuts are filled with protein and fiber that are good for your overall health. Nuts also tend to break up the sticky parts of a candy bar. They can break down the biofilm that forms on teeth.
To counteract the candy you consume on Halloween, follow our simple rules:
Have a Happy — and Tooth-Healthy — Halloween by choosing enamel-friendly candies, brushing and flossing, and seeing your dentist twice a year.
Contact us today to book your child’s check up and exam. Phone our Spooky Team, or use our Invisible Contact Form.
