Halloween is right around the corner!
Which means that for most children, bags FULL of free sweets and chocolate. This haunted holiday can wreak havoc on your kid’s teeth.
Here’s some tips on how you can help keep little teeth happy this Halloween and all year round.
Timing
Eat Halloween sweets and chocolate (and other sugary snacks) with meals or shortly after mealtime. Saliva production increases during meals which helps cancel out acids produced and rinse away sugar particles.
Try not to snack
Snacking can increase the risk of cavities! Reaching out for the sweet bowl every 10 minutes is far more harmful for your teeth than eating it all in one go. Teeth can take around 20minutes to recover from a sugar attack!
Choose sweet treats carefully
Avoid hard candy and other sweets that stay in your mouth for a long time. Aside from how often you snack, the length of time that sugary food is in your mouth plays a role in tooth decay. Unless it’s a sugar free product, sweets that are sucked and stay in the mouth for a long time subject teeth to increased risk of tooth decay.
Sticky and chewy sweets are more likely to get stuck to the teeth meaning they are on the teeth for much longer than chocolate which washes off with saliva.
Drink water
Drinking water cleans the mouth and prevents sugar attacks. Drinking sugary juices or fizzy drinks and sports drinks that contain sugar increase the risk of tooth decay.
Chew gum after meals
Chewing sugar free chewing gum for 20 mins after meals reduces tooth decay because increased saliva flow helps wash out food and neutralise the acid produced by bacteria. You might even want to give out sugar free gum and sweets to your little trick or treaters instead of sweets which could give the little ones more harm than good.
Don’t brush too soon
Although hurrying to the bathroom to brush your teeth after chewing a few sweets might sound like a good idea, it’s actually better to wait! Brushing right after eating acidic foods can actually damage your teeth because your enamel is softened. Wait at least 30 minutes before you brush.
Following these simple tips can help prevent tooth decay so that cavities aren’t the scariest thing this Halloween!