The Best & Worst Halloween Candy For Your Teeth

The Best & Worst Halloween Candy For Your Teeth

Halloween will be here before you know it, and while it’s not our favorite holiday, you won’t catch us handing out pennies or floss sticks if you come through our neighborhood. We know that your kids are going to eat candy on Halloween and early into November, but some of those sweet treats are worse than others when it comes to your dental health. To help sort through the best and worst sweet treats for your teeth, we decided to break it down in a blog post. Below, you’ll find out which are the best and worst Halloween candies for your teeth, and how to keep your teeth healthy throughout the holiday.

Oral Health and Halloween Candy

Obviously, things like apple slices or sugarless bubble gum would be preferred to more common sweet treats, but we’re not going to pretend that you’re a kid is going to come home with a pillowcase full of fruit and gum. Here’s a closer look at how the candy they’re most likely to bring home can affect their teeth.

Chocolate – Chocolate is actually one of the better options your kids will get in their Halloween basket. That’s because chocolate washes off the teeth easier than a lot of candies. Bonus points for dark chocolate, which has less sugar than milk or white chocolate. There’s worse candy in their bag than chocolate. Hard Candies – Hard candies like jawbreakers aren’t very good for your teeth, because either way you eat it, it can be problematic for your teeth. If you try to bite it and chew it faster, you risk cracking a tooth or damaging previous dental work. If you suck on it until it dissolves, you’re exposing your teeth to sugar for an elongated period of time. Consider throwing these out if your child won’t miss them. Gummy and Sticky Candy – Unlike chocolate, which washes off of our teeth quickly, gummies and sticky candy can be harder to remove from your teeth, which means sugar can build up and eat away at our enamel. The longer it stays on our teeth, the more time cavity-causing bacteria can do damage. This is another candy to limit or consider eating it with a meal, as other food particles can help remove the gummies from your child’s teeth. Sour Candy – Sour candy can be quite acidic, and that acidity can damage your teeth enamel and make you more susceptible to cavities. This is another type of candy to get rid of if your child isn’t a big fan of sour treats. Popcorn Balls – Do people still give these out? Not only are they sticky, but the kernels can oftentimes get stuck in our teeth. If your child wants one of these, make sure they have a glass of water alongside it and have the floss sticks handy. At the end of the day, it’s difficult to police what your child is going to eat on Halloween, but as long as you limit isolated eating of sour and sticky candies, and you ensure that they are practicing other healthy habits like brushing twice a day and flossing, your child’s teeth should be fine. Stay tuned on our blog for more Halloween tips as the holiday approaches.