Too much candy can be a horrible thing for a child’s oral health, and the Halloween season can expose your kid’s teeth to a host of sinister sweets that can lead to unsightly stains, tooth decay, and painful dental infections. Thankfully, there are a few healthier treats that can be great alternatives to many excessively sugary snacks. Here’s a brief overview of a few of the worst candies for your child’s teeth as well as a few snacks that may help them maintain better oral health.
The Most Monstrous Morsels
While most candies can be harmful to your child’s oral health, there are a few varieties that are especially risky. Take care to limit your child’s intake of:
- Hard candies: Hard sweets such as fruit-flavored lozenges and butterscotch disks will coat your child’s teeth with a sugary residue as they suck on them, and chomping down on these rigid, unyielding items can crack or chip their enamel.
- Chewy candies: Chewy candies such as caramel, taffy, and sugary bubblegum can become stuck in the nooks and crannies of a child’s mouth and feed harmful oral bacteria. The stress of chewing them can also break loose orthodontic appliances or dental restorations like crowns.
- Sour candies: Many hard or gummy candies are coated with an acidic powder that gives them an intense sour flavor. Unfortunately, acid erodes dental enamel on contact, so eating too much sour candy can set a kid up for painful tooth decay.
Sweet Treats with Redeeming Qualities
While most varieties of candy are almost completely devoid of oral health benefits, there are several sweet treats that can help your child stay in great oral health. A few excellent options include:
- Apples: These sweet, tart fruits are still a Halloween classic, and they offer a wide range of healthy nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and complex carbohydrates. To make apples even better, they are also rigid enough to scrape plaque and food residue off the teeth while being soft enough to be harmless to the enamel. In fact, dentists sometimes like to call apples “nature’s toothbrush.”
- Dark chocolate: This sweet and bold treat is low in sugar and high in antioxidants, and it can be firm enough to help rub harmful substances off the enamel.
- Sugar-free gum: The American Dental Association recommends chewing sugar-free gum for thirty minutes after meals to prevent tooth decay, and this harmless treat comes in a wide variety of fun flavors such as peppermint, watermelon, and bubblegum.
Proper oral hygiene is your child’s first line of defense against oral infections, so it’s crucial to make sure they are brushing and flossing sufficiently after enjoying their Halloween candy. Consulting with your family’s dentist can help you understand how to keep your kid’s smile in excellent health.
About the Practice
Atrium Family Dental of New Lenox provides the local community with the most excellent oral healthcare in town. Led by Drs. Sherif Albert, Christine Snow, and Amy Feller, the staff treats each patient with courtesy, compassion, and exemplary customer service. Areas of expertise include general, restorative, cosmetic, and emergency dentistry. To learn more about protecting your child’s smile during the Halloween season, contact the office online or dial (815) 462-9990.