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Halloween is an awesome time for families to dress up like their favorite characters and explore their neighborhoods together, searching for candy. Sweets in moderation are okay – we aren’t the fun police!! Among the “bad candy”, a few Halloween classic candies stand out as scary choices.

Circus Peanuts

How can a candy named “Circus Peanuts” contain zero actual nuts? Regardless of the lack of nuts, Circus Peanuts are a marshmallow candy that is made almost entirely of sugar. It comes in a bright orange shaped peanut, and is textured like a marshmallow. Circus Peanuts are a sticky candy, and that’s terrible news for teeth. Sticky candy is difficult to remove from teeth, and gives bad bacteria more time to eat away tooth enamel and cause cavities.

Atomic Fireballs

This spicy Halloween favorite is a staple in many candy bowls nationwide, but Atomic Fireballs can harm teeth. Atomic Fireballs are basically spicy jawbreakers, which is a very hard candy. Hard candy comes in nearly every flavor and size imaginable, but chewing hard candy can lead to a cracked tooth or damaged dental work. Hard candy also tends to stick around longer than other candy, which exposes teeth to sugar for a longer period of time.

Candy Corn

Oh no – our favorite!  This may be a bummer for a lot of Halloween fans, but candy corn is an enemy of dental health.  This is largely due to one ingredient: confectioner’s wax, which is basically waxy sugar. The waxy consistency of confectioners wax makes it difficult for saliva to break down, and also causes it to stick to teeth. As specified above, sugar that sticks to teeth gives cavities the nutrition they need to thrive and worsen.

Avoid The Candy Binge This Halloween

Do your best to limit the amount of candy your child has per day, and be sure that they rinse their mouth out with water, or brush and floss after eating candy to thoroughly remove any sugar or candy particles left behind on their teeth.  There are some other ways to help limit how long the candy sticks around the house, too.  Try having your child choose a certain number of pieces of candy to keep, then donate the remainder.  Have the “Switch Witch” come a week or two after Halloween and pick up the remaining candy in exchange for a toy or money.  Eat half of the candy yourself each night.  Just kidding on that one – or are we???

If your child begins experiencing tooth pain this Halloween, schedule an appointment with our office. Have a happy and safe Halloween, and don’t forget to brush!