5 Dental Tips for a Healthy Halloween

It’s that time of year when teenie-tiny ghosts, witches and zombies roam our streets looking for sweet treats. A COVID-Safe Halloween might look a little different this year but with all the lollies and sweets being shared the risk of tooth decay is still frighteningly high. To help you take care of your little monster we’ve put together five shockingly easy dental tips and tricks to make sure these sugary treats aren’t the scariest part of this Halloween.

Cavities Beware

Double, double toil and trouble; we're really sorry to burst your bubble... butttt lollies and sweets pose the greatest risk to our teeth during Halloween. These sweet treats are high in sugar. A higher intake of sugar, even just for one night, can increase our chances of tooth decay. Whilst the high level of sugar intake isn’t ideal, choosing your treats wisely can help reduce this risk.

Certain lollies and sweets are actually worse for your teeth than others. Try avoiding sticky lollies and hard candies such as toffee, caramels and lollipops. These types of lollies expose our teeth to sugars for a longer period of time increasing the chances of decay. Sour lollies are also a concern as the citric acids used to intensify the sourness can cause damage to our teeth.

After trick or treating, consider sorting out your children’s (or your) lolly haul and discarding the hard or sticky sweets. It’s hard to resist temptation but it’s also important to limit the number of lollies consumed in a single sitting.

It probably seems like witchful thinking but try to limit the amount of lollies that are eaten in one sitting and avoid letting your children snack on their sweets throughout the day. Our mouth needs a break in between meals so that our saliva can flush away any built-up bacteria and acids. Snacking on sugary foods, like Halloween sweets, is even worse for the mouth as we are constantly adding more sugars and acids to the mix and not allowing our saliva to neutralise these acids.

Thinking about when your children consume their haul of lollies will also help reduce the risks of tooth decay. Let them choose a few lollies to have as a treat after a meal. The saliva produced during the meal will help to flush away the excess sugars from the lollies.

Treat yo’self to Water!

it's probably best to stay away from potions such as soft drink and cordials on Halloween. With all the lollies that you and your mini monster will be eating you don't need the extra sugars from these drinks. Instead, sip water whilst eating sweets. This will help reduce the risk of tooth decay as it washes away any built-up sugars in the mouth.

Costume Cautions

Everyone wants to look their scariest and give people pumpkin to talk about, but we also need to be careful when choosing our Halloween costumes. If you're trying to change the appearance of your teeth use costume cosmetics that are specially designed for your teeth. Do your research before trying to alter the appearance of your teeth (even consult your dentist) so you can avoid causing any damage.

Although those vampire teeth seem like a fang-tastic accessory you need to be careful with fake teeth. If they start to cause pain or irritation, remove them straight away to avoid damaging your gums and teeth.
 
Some of these tips probably sound like they’re going to be a pain in the neck but we’re positive they will not ruin any skele-fun you’re planning. If you do go a little overboard with the treats maybe think about booking a post-Halloween appointment with your local Maven dentist. Don’t worry, we don’t have any Dr Evil’s.

Have a spook-tacular Halloween! ????

Find a Maven practice and book your Post-Halloween appointment