Spooktacular Tips from Our Children’s Dentistry Office for Staying Healthy This Halloween

As Halloween nears, patients of our children’s dentistry office often ask about whether or not they should eat all of that candy.  While trick-or-treating is fun, the candy you get is full of sugar and no amount of sugar is good for your teeth.  In fact, sugar can turn into an acid that attacks your teeth so the more sugar you eat, the more exposed your teeth are.We recommend that you make Halloween and the subsequent holidays about the experience of having fun together without a focus on treats.  This way you and your kids will eat less sugar and be healthier overall.  It is easier to do this than it seems.Here are some spooktacular tips from our children’s dentistry office for having a healthy Halloween:

• Eat healthy food and snacks.  Incorporate healthy foods into your kids’ diets.  There are many clever ways to do so.  For example, give them a bowl full of organic yogurt and granola.  This healthy treat is delicious and even picky eaters normally like it.  Cut up carrots and serve them with ranch dressing.  The simple addition of a dipping sauce makes it more fun to eat their veggies. You can stick with a Halloween theme and serve them green smoothies in the morning.  They get their color from a super food – kale.  Include fruit and protein as well. By eating these healthy foods, their teeth will become stronger.
• Host a costume party.  Instead of going out, stay home and throw a costume party.  This way your kids can dress up and play games with neighbors and friends, dance, win prizes, and eat healthy snacks.  By throwing a party, you can control the food that your kids eat and prevent them from getting a bag full of candy while still having a great time. This will make Halloween more about the experience and less about the treats.
• Trick-or-treat for toys.  Instead of trick-or-treating for candy, go for a different type of treat instead.  Tell your kids that if they get a bag full of candy, you will trade them the candy for a new toy.  Most kids would prefer a special toy anyway, so this is an easy trade.  You can even let them pick it out ahead of time so that they are excited, know what to expect, and are on board with the plan before their bag gets full of chocolate.
• Buy a special brush set.  Most drug stores will carry things like novelty toothbrushes when the holidays come around.  Buy a Halloween or fall toothbrush for your kids and cinnamon toothpaste.  When they brush the cinnamon paste will look spooky and can lead to a game in and of itself.

There are lots of ways to get your kids excited to make a healthy choice.  It takes creativity but is well worth it.  The choices that they make now will stick with them into adulthood, so it is important to set good and healthy habits now.  To get more tips or to schedule a teeth cleaning, call our children’s dentistry office today.

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