Whether your child wants to dress up as a vampire or a werewolf, it is important that you pay extra attention to their fangs! With Halloween around the corner, now is a great time to discuss the different types of candy, how they may affect your teeth, and what you can do to make sure nothing bad happens!

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The Creepiest Candies

Candy may be packaged to make you feel happy, fun, and carefree, but the things candy can do to our teeth are actually pretty spooky. Below, we have listed the scariest candies you will find on Halloween.

• Jawbreaking Sweets – Chewy and sticky candies are delicious, but they can certainly leave your jaw feeling a little tired. What’s worse, though, is what they do to our teeth. These candies get into the deepest crevices of our teeth and are dangerously hard to get out. Because they are hidden in deep pockets, saliva can’t wash them away as easily, and our tongues may not feel them there. This makes these candies a big problem for teeth, as they are a great encourager of tooth decay.

• Sneaky Sugars – On Easter, you think of Peeps. On Halloween, it’s Candy Corn. Though delicious, Candy Corn is predominately made of one of your teeth’s biggest enemies: sugar. Other candies high in sugar are Nerds, Pixie Stix, Sprees, Fun-Dip, and Skittles. Sugar also loves to erode teeth and can change the pH levels of your mouth, leading to tooth damage, bad breath, and in extreme cases, tooth loss! Now that is scary!

• Biting BonBons – Sour candies are also damaging to oral health. Highly acidic foods can break down tooth enamel at a fairly quick rate. Enamel is our teeth’s greatest defender. It protects our teeth while we bite, grind, chew, talk, etc. We don’t want to hurt it!

Just Fine and Dandy Candy!

Ok, so we started with the bad news. After you read all of the candies that can destroy your teeth, you are probably wondering what is left. In fact, most candy found on Halloween doesn’t just fit into one of our creepy categories – they fit into all three! The good news is, there are still some candies out there that are just fine for you to enjoy!

• Sugar-Free – Sugar-free candy is a fairly safe solution to enjoying sweet treats after a night of trick-or-treating. In fact, in some cases, sugar-free candies may even help prevent cavities. Sugar-free lollipops or hard candies that aren’t too sour can help increase your saliva production, which can neutralize your pH balance and help prevent dry mouth – an atmosphere that encourages plaque buildup. In addition to an increased production of saliva, sugar-free gum can help dislodge food from deep crevices in your teeth and rinse them away!

• Dark Chocolate – As an adult reading this blog, you are probably thinking one of two things. Either you are rejoicing at the fact that dark chocolate is safe for you to eat, or you are thinking of children, and doubting they have developed a taste for the more sophisticated chocolates quite yet. Well, it’s true – dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants that are good for the entire body and therefore, they are okay for your teeth. Your child may not enjoy dark chocolate yet, but encouraging the switch from milk chocolate to dark chocolate at an early age may speed up the maturity of their pallette – you never know!

Don’t Be Scared! Indulge the Right Way

If you simply can’t restrain your child (or yourself) from indulging on Halloween night (and the nights following), indulge the right way. First, make sure you are drinking more water to help rinse away the sugar. Stay away from sugary drinks – these will only enhance the problem! Be sure to brush your teeth around 20 minutes after eating candies, and consider paying extra attention to your flossing routine.

Schedule Your Post-Halloween Appointment with a Dentist in Hoover, AL

Sometimes, cavities already exist without our knowledge, and eating candy can bring on the discomfort associated with tooth decay. If you begin to feel pain after a night of candy eating, schedule an appointment with your dentist immediately! The faster you act, the easier it is to fix!

We hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!