Trick or Treat?
With Halloween just around the corner, many children will use this opportunity to feast on lots of sugary snacks.
Halloween's scariest part may not be the ghosts and witches, but rather the microscopic bacteria in dental plaque that convert sugar into acid and dissolve the hard enamel coating teeth and lead to decay.
It is important to consider the potentially damaging consequences sugar can have on your little one’s oral health. As well as the fact that child tooth decay is, regrettably, the leading cause of pediatric hospital admissions in the UK with sugar being the main culprit.
Follow our 5 top recommendations to reduce the risk of your child's sugar intake at Halloween resulting in tooth decay:
1. Limit sweet treat consumption
Encourage your child to eat sweet treats in one sitting instead of snacking or grazing multiple times a day, this will reduce the number of sugar attacks
2. Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste
Ensure one of the times your child brushes is the last thing at night after which no more sweets should be consumed
3. Avoid sticky or hard candy
Sticky sweets are difficult to remove even with regular brushing and flossing and can remain on the teeth for prolonged periods of time and cause tooth decay more rapidly
4. Encourage drinking water following having sweets
This helps to rinse away the sugar that may otherwise stick to the teeth
5. Low sugar substitues or sweets containing Xylitol
Tooth friendly treats and your child never needs to know!
It may be challenging to find low-sugar substitutes as sweet treats fill the supermarket shelves. However as you’ll see below, there are many other enjoyable treats that could be given to the kids.
These Olive cream cheese spider bites, bell pepper monster eyes, peanut butter apple monster teeth, boo-nanas and pretzel cheese stick witch brooms make fantastic healthy spooky snacks.
You can find the recipes at: https://meaningfuleats.com/5-healthy-halloween-kids-snacks-gluten-free/
Visit Your Smile Clinic
If you would like us to check your family's teeth after the Halloween celebrations, get in touch today on 0161 327 2878. We are a family-friendly private dental practice in the heart of Manchester city centre, welcoming new patients for a range of dental treatments, routine examinations and more specialist procedures.
