Don’t Let These Candies Sour Your Halloween
October 20, 2017
Halloween is not exactly friendly to your teeth. For example, there’s the fact that candy tends to have a lot of sugar and corn syrup in it. However, these ingredients could be the least of your worries if you have fillings or other issues. Here is a look at which candies to avoid this Halloween.
- Hard candies: Chow down on a piece of hard candy, and you risk cracking your teeth and damaging your enamel.
- Taffy and caramel: These sticky candies are notorious for pulling out dental fillings and crowns, and staining teeth.
- Jawbreakers: They can chip your teeth.
- Gummy bears: These bears may not roar, but they sure do stick to your gum line and provide a sugar feast for the bacteria in your mouth. The bacteria then produces acid that promotes enamel erosion and the formation of cavities.
- Sour candies: Their high acid levels aren’t good news for tooth enamel. If you must eat a sour candy or two, wait at least a half-hour afterward to brush your teeth. Otherwise, you risk spreading acid to more teeth.
- Gum: The longer you chew gum, the longer your teeth are exposed to sugar.
Minimize the risks
What can you do short of having a candy-free Halloween? The prospect of that seems scarier than the creatures wandering your streets on Halloween night! Your options include sugar-free gum and candies. For one thing, sugar-free gum can boost your saliva production and loosen food stuck in your teeth. Plus, no sugar. As for sugar-free hard candies, eat them gently and slowly, and they shouldn’t damage your teeth.
Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is an okay, if not ideal, bet. You can rinse the chocolate easily enough, but try to stay away from these chocolates that are sticky inside or have hard objects inside them.
After Halloween is a good time for a regular checkup. To make an appointment at Dr. Naran’s family dentistry practice, contact our office today.