Halloween Candy and Cavities: Smart Ways to Protect Your Child’s Teeth

Halloween can be a fun time of year for kids. They get to put on a costume they’re excited about, then go around the neighborhood collecting treats for simply saying hi. Irene Zaki, DDS, would never want families to miss out on the fun of trick-or-treating. 

But Dr. Zaki and our team do want you to miss out on the negative oral health repercussions that can come up after kids eat a lot of candy. That’s why, as part of her pediatric dentistry services, she and our team at Happy Teeth Children’s Dentistry in Riverside, California, created this guide. 

Here are a few things you can do to lower your child’s risk of cavities this Halloween season. 

#1: Make strategic candy choices

When you can, steer your child away from sticky candies like gummies and taffy. 

The sticky nature of these candies means they cling to your child’s teeth, often even surviving after they brush and floss. That means the sugar has more time to feed the bacteria in plaque, which eats away at your child’s teeth. 

#2: Enjoy the candy as a dessert

Your body naturally makes more saliva when you eat, which protects teeth by washing away sugar particles and neutralizing acid. 

If you let your kids have a couple of pieces of candy right after dinner, when saliva production is high, you tap into their body’s natural oral health defenses. Plus, eating candy after a nutritious meal — when they’re already full — helps to prevent overindulging. 

#3: Brush and floss as soon as possible

When your child eats candy, have them brush and floss as soon as possible afterward to limit the time the sugar has to form plaque. Even if they eat quite a bit of sugar, if they remove it from the surfaces of their teeth quickly, it doesn’t have much opportunity to contribute to tooth decay. 

Flossing is just as important as brushing here. By flossing, they remove sugar from the small spaces between their teeth where it could otherwise thrive. 

#4: Consider silver diamine fluoride 

If your child already has areas of tooth decay, silver diamine fluoride (SDF) offers a way to prevent that from getting worse this Halloween season. With SDF, Dr. Zaki can slow or even stop cavity progression.

#5: Schedule a cleaning for after Halloween

To remove any hardened plaque (tartar) that builds up after Halloween and check for any issues that might have popped up during the sugar-rich season, book an exam and cleaning with Dr. Zaki. 

To get your post-Halloween appointment scheduled, call Happy Teeth Children’s Dentistry or book it online today.