{"id":838,"date":"2017-10-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/managing-halloween-sweet-tooth-2\/"},"modified":"2017-10-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T00:00:00","slug":"managing-halloween-sweet-tooth-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/managing-halloween-sweet-tooth-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing That Halloween Sweet Tooth"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hudsonhighlandsdentistryblog.socialmediafordentistry2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/91\/2017\/10\/Managing-Halloween-Sweet-Tooth_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1514\" \/> <strong>HALLOWEEN IS OUR<\/strong> favorite spooky time of year, but when it comes to sugar\u2019s effects on teeth, all that candy can be downright scary. The reason sugar is bad for our teeth is that it <strong>feeds harmful oral bacteria<\/strong> that excrete acid, and the acid erodes enamel and leads to tooth decay. So how can we keep our costumed Halloween adventures clear of tooth decay? <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Ranking Candy On Dental Health<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> Very few houses give away treats like sugar-free xylitol gum to trick-or-treaters, so the chances are slim that the candy will actually be healthy. However, some types of sugary candy are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mouthhealthy.org\/en\/az-topics\/h\/halloween-candy-survival-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">worse than others<\/a>, or present different kinds of problems. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hard candy<\/strong> is a problem because there\u2019s a risk of breaking our teeth if we chew it, but sucking on it isn\u2019t safe either because that means holding a source of sugar in our mouths for an extended period.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sour candies<\/strong> are like a double attack against dental health, because not only do they contain a lot of sugar to feed the bacteria, but they are also highly acidic, so they can harm our enamel directly!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sticky or gummy candy<\/strong> is especially bad for teeth because it remains stuck there, feeding the bacteria for a long time and giving them a larger opportunity to attack the enamel.<\/li>\n<li>The good news is that <strong>the least harmful sugary candy is chocolate<\/strong>!\u00a0It doesn\u2019t stick to teeth like most other candies, and the cocoa in it has many beneficial properties. The darker the chocolate, the less sugar will be in it, so aim for dark chocolate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Reducing The Candy Quantity<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> Being picky about which types of candy we eat is one way to reduce the risk of tooth decay, but an even better way to do that is by simply <strong>eating less candy<\/strong>. As parents, we can help our children out with this by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.colgate.com\/en\/us\/oc\/oral-health\/conditions\/cavities\/article\/how-to-prevent-cavities-from-halloween-candy-1013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">coming up with a plan<\/a> before trick-or-treating time. We could let them trade the bulk of their candy haul for some kind of non-candy prize or limit the number of houses they visit. We just have to make sure to discuss the plan with them in advance. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>More Tooth-Healthy Strategies<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> There are a few other <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mouthhealthy.org\/en\/az-topics\/h\/halloween-tips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">simple things<\/a> you can do to reduce the dental effects of all that Halloween candy. You can <strong>drink more water<\/strong> to rinse out the sugar, <strong>limit the frequency<\/strong> of candy consumption more than the quantity, and <strong>wait thirty minutes<\/strong> after eating candy to brush your teeth. The reason for that last one is that it takes your saliva about half an hour to stabilize the pH of your mouth after eating sugar.  <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bnK2rDOEf0s?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Keeping Teeth\u00a0Healthy Year-Round<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> The Halloween season will come to an end, but the job of keeping our teeth healthy is never done! Make sure you\u2019re always brushing your teeth twice a day, flossing, keeping those sugary treats to a minimum, and scheduling regular dental visits! <\/p>\n<h4>Have a spooky Halloween!<\/h4>\n<h6>Top image used under <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/share-your-work\/public-domain\/cc0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC0 Public Domain license<\/a><\/span>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #d9d9d9;\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>HALLOWEEN IS OUR<\/strong> favorite spooky time of year, but when it comes to sugar\u2019s effects on teeth, all that candy can be&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,273,274,276,275],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dental-posts","category-general-dental","category-orthodontic","category-pediatric","category-176","category-273","category-274","category-276","category-275","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}