Are Halloween Treats Tricking Us?

As parents, we want to give our children the world. If it’s possible, we want it to happen. But if we cater to their every whim, they would eventually become wild animals. They would never be clean and their diet would be atrocious. Thankfully, we as parents have the good sense to restrict things we know aren’t good for them.

Things become a bit trickier when it comes to things like Halloween. Spooks, specters and sweets is the name of the game on this scary holiday. You spend the other 364 days trying to keep your child healthy, then the calendar throws a holiday based on sugary confections. It is tough to impose good health when you’re surrounded by treats. I mean, the key phrase is trick or TREAT for pete’s sake! Depriving your child of everything that this scary holiday celebrates won’t score you any parenting points, so it’s important to keep a balance between having spooky fun and continuing to stay good health.

Trick or treating is basically the best part of Halloween for a San Leandro child. And let’s face it, you know candy is delicious. So what is a parent to do? Many parents try to limit their child’s candy intake by having them choose a certain amount of candy from their tremendous haul, some reserve candy to certain times of the day or as reward for good behavior. All of these are great ideas, but it’s important that you know some candy is better than others. Instead of stopping them from sweets completely, why not just weed out all of the really bad sweets? Here is a list of your child’s sweetest enemies:

Skittles. Skittles may allow you to taste rainbows, but they are also letting you ruin your teeth’s enamel by combining sweet and sour for a pH level of 2.5, levels so high they can cause serious damage to your little one’s teeth.

Caramel. Sticky candy is some of the worst for teeth and this one is at the top of the list. Not only does the sticky texture stick to your teeth’s surface and loves to get deep into the crevices, but it can also loosen dental fixtures, like braces or fillings, making it especially harmful for those with dental work.

Gummy Bears. Similar to caramels and other sticky candies, gummy candies could be considered the same type of animal, only fruity. The gelatin used to make the gummy candy gummy, also sticks to the crevices of your teeth, making it difficult to remove with a brushing or a quick rinse of water.

Jolly Ranchers. Arguably the most addicting candies ever created, Jolly Ranchers are probably enemy #1 for your teeth. Not only are they a hard candy that can damage teeth when bitten, but sucking on hard candy isn’t a quick process. It takes a while for hard candy to dissolve in the mouth, and the sugar wastes no time working their way into a tooth, causing cavity-forming bacteria to haunt your child’s healthy teeth. They may be a definite favorite, but for the sake of your child’s teeth, keep hard candy away from your little one’s precious smile.

It isn’t difficult to keep your child’s teeth healthy, even when holidays like Halloween come around. Practice good dental hygiene and keep a healthy diet and that smile you love so much will be just fine. Happy Halloween!

Make sure Halloween didn’t ruin your child’s smile. Schedule an appointment and/or consultation today. 

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