Let’s be real, there is almost no way your kid is not going to eat candy on Halloween. The stuff is EVERYWHERE at this time of year! So let’s go over a few tips to limit the damage. PS these rules apply to the parents too!!
- Limit the amount of time candy is being eaten. Snacking on even just a little all day is far worse than gorging for 30 minutes. Your saliva will clean out the sugar if you give it time but if you keep eating more you are constantly replenishing the bacteria with more sugar. This is by far the most important rule!
- Choose candy that is eaten fast! It may be counter-intuitive but the straight sugar ones like Pixie sticks are gone so fast they limit the damage (to teeth anyway).
- Pick sugar free candy and gum with xylitol. Xylitol is believed to help prevent decay.
- Stay away from the hard stuff. Not only is the sugar exposure much longer as you suck on the candy (rule #2) , usually before it is all gone we bite into it and break it apart. Well something will break and fortunately it is usually the candy but occasionally part of the tooth loses that battle.
- Chocolate is not all bad. It dissolves fast and if it includes nuts then is arguably one of the healthiest candy items available. Just make sure it doesn’t have anything in the next rule.
- Avoid the sticky stuff. Caramel and other sticky items will get into the tiny grooves of your teeth and stay there for a long time. Although it may seem it is all eaten, really it is continually feeding that bad bacteria sitting on your teeth.
Have fun and be safe!!
And when you break these rules, feel free to give us a call. We’ll get you fixed up!