Quite fitting for October Halloween season!
OK, Hand it Over!
In the United States, every year, Halloween is
celebrated on October 31st. This holiday is an old one that started
out honoring the dead. Nowadays, it’s
full of costumes, games, scary story-telling and of course, candy, candy, and
more candy! Halloween is quite the dentist’s nightmare.
I remember that
as a little kid my friends and I would run around the neighborhood ringing
doorbell after doorbell. We would go to the houses that gave out a lot of candy
twice! There was so much candy collected
that it would last me for the whole year. It would be 2 shopping bags full of
candy, gum, chocolates or other sweets. My brother, sisters and I would pour
everything out on the living room floor and separate them into piles.
Chocolates in one pile, gum in another pile, candy in another pile, and of
course, there was the “trading” pile.
The trading pile could be traded with someone else for something you
liked more. There was rarely a “throw away” pile.
Now, years
later, as a mother with 2 kids, I’ve noticed that the amount of candy collected
for Halloween has sharply decreased. Thank goodness! Although my poor kids will never know the
joys in seeing the mountains of candy I sorted through every year! As a
dentist, I know that it’s impossible to have parents ban ALL Halloween candy collections and
watch the sad faces of their children as they see their goodies poured into the
garbage can. There IS a solution to keep
everyone happy.
Last year,
I told my kids I would go through their Halloween collections first to see if
everything was safe to eat. You can never be too careful these days! I also
wanted to toss out the “undesirable” goodies from a dentist’s point of view. My
kids made a face and called me the “Halloween Police”. They can call me whatever they want to but
when they came through the door, I was there with my hand out. “OK, Hand it
over!” It was either hand over the bags or the bags go into the trash. They
obediently handed over their bags.
So here’s a
list to keep everyone happy:
BAD…..Gummy
candies, sticky and chewy taffy, even dried fruits are more difficult for
saliva to wash away. They get stuck between teeth and can cause cavities there.
BAD….. Sour
candies are highly acidic and can break down the enamel quickly.
BAD….. It’s
best to avoid anything too overly sugary. More sugar, more cavities formed.
GOOD….
Sugar-free candy or lollipops make it on this list. These don’t contain sugar
and can stimulate saliva which prevents a dry mouth. Dry mouths tend to have
more plaque which can lead to more cavities.
GOOD….
Sugar-free gum (my all time favorite!) can actually prevent cavities by helping
to dislodge food particles from in between the teeth. It also helps prevent
cavities by increasing saliva production to neutralize the acids in the mouth.
GOOD…. Dark
chocolates are also on this list. They
wash away from the teeth easily and in some studies, are found to be good for
the heart and lower blood pressure.
As I went
through my kids’ bag of Halloween candy, I made a “Mommy pile”. When they
protested, I told them, “If you’re going to call me the Halloween Police, I
need to be paid for my hard work!”
Needless to say, I’m now called the “Halloween Mafia”!
