Halloween may be a time full of ghosts and goblins but it does not have to a scary time for your children and their oral health routine! Here are MooreKidsSmile’s 5 tricks to keeping mouth monsters at bay this Halloween season:

 1. Not All Treats Are Created Equal

As much as we would love to tell you that it doesn’t make a difference whether your child eats gummy bears or m&m’s, sour patch kids or a Hershey bar we just cannot because the truth of the matter is all candy is not created equal. What we suggest is that when Trick or Treating is done, go through your child’s candy with them and have them separate the candy into 3 piles, a pile for gummy, sticky, chewy candy, a pile for candy thats made of milk chocolate, treats like pretzels or maybe chocolate covered popcorn and a pile for treats that are mostly dark chocolate, trail mix or sugar free gum. If possible, donate as much as you can of the gummy and sticky candy because even when brushing well, these treats are extremely difficult to get completely off your children’s teeth. From there, let your children snack on the better options like milk chocolate treats or even better dark chocolate treats!

2. Try Giving Treats With A Meal

We know it will be a struggle for all parties involved (we feel ya moms and dads) not to snack on Halloween candy every hour of everyday but if at all possible, try giving the treats after a meal served with lots of water. The idea behind this is that saliva production is increased during this period because you were just eating. When saliva increases, it helps cancel out the acid and bacteria produced by the ‘sugar bugs’ aka candy and helps wash away left over food particles before it turns into decay.

3. Double Check Your Children’s Oral Hygiene Habits 

Halloween and the days following is a perfect time to make sure your family’s oral hygiene habits is rock solid. This means brushing and flossing twice a day- once in the morning after breakfast and once in the evening before bedtime. It is also a perfect time to go over with your children what sugar does to your whole body, especially your teeth! November 1st, the day after Halloween, is actually National Brush Your Teeth Day so make sure you celebrate it!

4. Make It A Time To Give Back

There are so many awesome charities and organizations that will take your unwanted Halloween candy and give it to those in need- in some cases they will even buy it back from you! MooreKidsSmile Pediatric Dentistry is willing to purchase the candy back from the children at $1.00 per pound and give it to a worthy cause. Last year we donated it to Solider’s Angels, a charity that takes Halloween Candy and sends it to our troops overseas. This year we will be gathering up all of the candy and donating it to the Ronald McDonald House right here in Buffalo, NY. If you and your children are interested in participating in our candy buy back program, please call our office at 716-648-2020 to see what days and times we will be buying back the candy.

5. Be Mindful Of Your Furry Friends

Everyone knows how much we love animals here at MooreKidsSmile Pediatric Dentistry, especially cats and dogs. Halloween can be a tricky time for our animals because treats, like chocolate or gum, might be left out where the animals can reach them and consume them. Chocolate, gum and other treats are not good for our animals and can even be lethal to them. Chocolate is toxic to dogs, cats and ferrets and Xylitol, a sweetener often used in candy and sugar free gum, is extremely lethal to our beloved animals. Please be mindful of this and keep Halloween goodies out of reach of any animal.

We hope everyone has a safe and ‘tooth-rific’ Halloween and we look forward to seeing everyone at Halloween Candy Buy Back!