Types of Candy to Avoid This Halloween for a Cavity-Free Smile

(And other things you can do to protect your and your child’s teeth!)

It’s that sweet and spooky time of the year again! Who doesn’t love Halloween?

While ghosts, goblins and vampires are known to give us a good scare, our Danforth Dentist is here to warn against a different kind of something you should fear: SUGAR! (And the tooth decay/cavities that can result.)

While we should all be allowed to enjoy a sweet treat from time to time guilt-free, there are certain types of candies we should try our best to avoid altogether - and many of them make their way into trick-or-treat bags each year.

These particularly cavity-promoting Halloween candies are:

• Super-sticky candies, such as taffy and caramel chews that stick to the teeth’s surfaces and stay there for extended periods of time
• Hard candies, such as jolly ranchers and Warheads that require sucking and lead to longer exposure time of sugar lingering in the mouth (these candies can also break or chip the teeth if bitten down on)
• Gummy candies, such as gummy bears or worms that require a lot of chewing and tend to settle into the grooves and crevices of the teeth where sugars can wreak havoc
• Sour candies, such as Sour Patch Kids that contain not only great amounts of sugar that stick to the teeth, but contain a much higher level of acidity that also eats away at tooth enamel

How to protect your and your child’s smile from decay this Halloween (no matter what kind of treats you get into)

This Halloween as you and your little ones enjoy some spooky treats, try to avoid frequent snacking or snacking in-between meals. The less frequently you expose your teeth to sugars, the better! - so try to save the treats to eat along with your main meals (and of course, be sure to brush and floss afterward).

Additionally, if you do happen to snack on a sweet treat in-between meals or on the go where you don’t have access to a toothbrush, follow it up with a drink of water, swishing it around in your mouth to dissolve any bits of sugar or debris and to wash it away from the teeth’s surfaces.

Wishing our patients a Happy and Cavity-Free Halloween!

If it’s time again to see our Danforth dentist and hygienist for a check-up and cleaning, schedule your visit with us today.

We look forward to seeing you again!