Balancing Halloween Fun in October with Good Oral Care

Halloween is just around the corner! For many families in Kansas City, that means costumes, pumpkins, and plenty of candy to be gathered from the neighbors or your favorite trunk-or-treat event. For kids, the holiday can be a load of fun, but all that Halloween candy can also pose a frightening challenge when it comes to maintaining good dental health. Besides being the month of Halloween, October is also National Dental Hygiene Month, which makes it the perfect time for your Kansas City family dentist to help you strike the perfect balance between indulging in those sugary Halloween treats and taking steps to help protect your smile.

Did you know? The average trick-or-treater consumes around 3.4 pounds of candy on Halloween night. That’s equal to roughly 7,000 calories or three full cups of sugar! As any parent knows, that much sugar has consequences, including damage to your child’s teeth. In fact, sugar is one of the leading contributors to tooth decay. The bacteria that live in our mouths love sugar as much as we do. When we consume sugar, those bacteria produce acid that breaks down tooth enamel and leads to cavities.

As your family dentist in Kansas City, we’re usually encouraging you to lay off the sweets, but we also know that indulging in a few treats is all part of the Halloween fun. This Halloween, we’re challenging you to enjoy the treats while also protecting your oral health. How? We’re glad you asked!

The Halloween Challenge:

1. Our Halloween challenge has several steps, and the first one begins with you! We’ve actually written a whole article about kid-friendly Halloween treat alternatives that help to maintain all the door-to-door fun of Halloween with fewer cavities in the end. Sure, there’s still going to be some candy, but if you do your part when it comes to handing out more tooth-friendly alternatives that kids still love, it will mean less sugar at the end of the night and fewer dental health concerns on subsequent mornings.

2. The next step is to help your children enjoy their Halloween candy in moderation. One good way to do this is to let them pick out their favorite candies from their trick-or-treat haul. This is fun in itself and forces them to really think about what they’re going to be eating. Let them enjoy one piece each night after dinner—as long as they brush their teeth afterward, of course!

3. What happens to the rest of that candy? This is where you need a little creativity! As your Kansas City family dentist, we recommend setting up a barter system where your kids can trade in the rest of their Halloween haul in exchange for something they really want. Your kids will be a lot happier to part with uneaten Halloween candy if it helps them get a game or toy that they’ve been hoping for.

Halloween may be inextricably associated with mounds of candy, but there’s much more to the holiday than that! You can have a lot of fun with costumes, pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, spooky movies, and so much more without indulging in too many sugary snacks. At the same time, it doesn’t hurt to have a few. Enjoy them in moderation and keep an eye on how much sugar your kids are consuming during the spooky season. You’ll be glad you did, and so will their teeth!

While you’re at it, why not schedule an appointment to see your Kansas City family dentist this fall? With it being National Dental Hygiene Month, it’s a perfect time to come see us at Blacker Family Dental. Call (816) 763-8400 or click here to schedule an appointment today!