3 Tips for a Healthier Halloween

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Happy Halloween!

Halloween, a sugarpalooza, is a lot of kids' favorite time of the year! Sugar galore, fun costumes, and more sugar are the hallmark traits of this holiday. With sugar abounding, how can your teeth even stand a chance to stay healthy? Here are a few tricks for the treats to help prevent extra trips to the dentist this season:

1. Avoid sticky or hard candies. 

Any candy that is going to stay on your teeth for an extended period of time is the worst type you can have for your teeth. Sticky candies are harder to get off your teeth so all of that sugar gets extra time to feed cavity-causing bacteria. Hard candies can do the same thing if they are sucked on, but also have an additional draw back in that they are the cause of many a broken tooth when attempted to be chewed. If these are your favorite kind of candies, just make sure that you brush right after eating them and never chew hard candies.

2. Don't snack on candy.

The more often you snack on sugar, the more often you are feeding decay-causing bacteria. Admittedly, even dentists like sugar, so if you have to eat some candy try and limit the frequency of what you eat. In terms of your teeth, its not so much the quantity as the amount of exposure to your teeth. Ideally, the period of time when treats are eaten is what should be regulated when it comes to sweets. When you eat sugar and feed the bacteria found in your mouth, a weak acid is produced that can cause cavities. By brushing after you eat, you get rid of the source of that acid and help to reduce your chance of developing cavities.

3. Hand out a healthy alternative to candy.

The less candy you have around, the less you will be tempted to eat! Opt to hand out a healthy, but fun alternative to candy this year. You could hand out fun stickers, pencils, Halloween rings or accessories to go with kids' costumes. Gum with the ADA seal, and glow-in-the dark sticks are all healthier and fairly inexpensive fun alternatives to the typical Halloween treats and can be be bought in bulk. If you're a traditional and want to stick to candy, avoid the sticky and hard candies. 

Have a happy and safe Halloween!


~Cyrus M. Larson, DMD



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