Halloween is a fun holiday for kids and adults of all ages. Whether you’re taking your child trick-or-treating this year or you’re still a child at heart and excited about all the tasty treats available in stores, caring for your or your child’s teeth, braces, and general dental care remains paramount. At Choice Orthodontics we have a few basic tips to follow that help keep your’s and your loved one’s teeth healthy.
Avoid Hard Candies
Hard candies notoriously contain the highest amount of sugar because that’s all they’re made of. There isn’t any milk, wafer, or peanut butter to mellow out the high sugar content. If you or your child is wearing braces or Invisalign be sure to brush your teeth immediately after finishing the treats or prior to reinserting the Invisalign aligners.
Some Candy is Better Than Others
Not all candy is treated equally, as we mentioned above. When enjoying your halloween candy stash try to enjoy candy that has some type of real food incorporated into it. Treats that have nuts, dark chocolate, or are butter-based tend to have more substance to them and will fill you or your child up quicker and result in less candy being eaten at once.
A friendly reminder that if you’re wearing traditional braces to avoid any sticky candies or biting into any hard cardies. Hard candies can cause your brackets to sheer off and sticky candies, like caramel, can not only get stuck in your brackets and cause harm to your teeth, but move wires around as well leading to painful pokes in the cheek.
Plan Candy Consumption
Speaking of eating all your candy at once… Coming home from trick or treating and dumping out your newly acquired treats is a right of passage for all children. Even more so than that is the temptation and desire to eat the new candy all at once. Be sure to plan out candy consumption. Not only does doing this prevent the nasty stomach ache that will assuredly accompany eating too many sweets at once, but helps their new candy last longer.
Brush, Brush, BRUSH Your Teeth!
Any dentist or orthodontist will always kindly remind you to brush your teeth on any given day, but Halloween, in particular, is a day you should be brushing and brushing away those “sugar bugs”. Snacking on candy all day is a fun way to spend your day, but letting the sugar sit and stay on your teeth is a great way to get a cavity by the time the holidays are in full swing. Be sure to brush your teeth after you indulge.
If you’re wearing braces you can inadvertently cause unwanted discoloration on your teeth from where your teeth were exposed versus where the brackets were adhered. Nothing puts a damper on getting your braces off quite like significantly noticeable discolored teeth.
Even if you’re aligning your teeth through Invisalign it’s vitally important that you brush your teeth and brush your aligners to prevent any accidental sugar buildup and lead to unwanted cavities.
Here for All Your Halloween Needs & Beyond
All of us here at Choice Orthodontics hope you and your family have a happy and safe Halloween this year. No matter the orthodontic needs you have, from traditional braces to Invisalign and general dental care, we’re here for all your orthodontic and dental care needs.
Be sure to contact us for any dental needs you have or if you’re concerned that your child’s candy consumption has created an orthodontic issue. Happy Halloween!