How to find alternatives to Halloween candy

Choosing Halloween candy used to require a decision between plain or peanut. These days, you can’t just pick up a 10-pound bag of Snickers without considering how candy contributes to the rise of childhood obesity, poor nutrition and tooth decay.

If you’re looking for a trick-or-treat alternative that will set a better example for nutrition and good oral health, you’re not alone. Parents are all too aware that Halloween is only the beginning of a months-long candy season that begins with candy corn tucked in pockets and ends with marshmallow Peeps stuck to the backseat.

Yet Halloween can also become a good time to reexamine the price kids teeth pay for all of that “free” candy.  There are Halloween treats that won’t hurt teeth, says Dental Director Dr. Louis Amendola, D.D.S., of Western Dental Services, Inc.,  a dental HMO based in California.

“Try something that isn’t candy, such as Halloween-themed pencils, stickers or glow-in-the-dark bracelets,” says Dr. Amendola. “Party supply stores often have a good assortment of favors and trinkets that can be added to your trick-or-treat giveaways,” he said.

It’s hard to break with tradition, though. Instead of  becoming the neighborhood bad guy who bans all candy, Dr. Amendola suggested selecting edible treats that will cause the least harm, dentally speaking. He explained that tooth decay is the product of naturally occurring bacteria that digest sugars in the mouth and produce acid, which dissolves tooth enamel.

“The longer you expose your teeth to sugar, the more likely you are to experience damage,” he said. “The worst offenders are sticky candies that linger long after you eat them.” Dr. Amendola offers these additional trick-or-treating tips:

• Avoid giving away or keeping hard candies, taffy, bubble gum, lollipops and caramels.
• Offer sugarless gum, preferably with the natural sweetener xylitol, which stops the action of acid-producing mouth bacteria.
• Have your children bring bottles of water, which can quench thirst and rinse away sugar.
• Sort your children’s candy haul and throw away the most damaging treats.
• Set a limit on how many pieces of Halloween candy can be eaten each day, and when.

Which water is best? Ban the bottle and open the tap

You figure it wouldn’t be in the best interests of dentists to support something that could put them out of business. Yet the American Dental Association (ADA) is as gung-ho about community water fluoridation today as when the practice was introduced more than six decades ago.

According to the ADA:

Studies conducted throughout the past 60 years have consistently indicated that fluoridation of community water supplies is safe and effective in preventing dental decay in both children and adults. It is the most efficient way to prevent one of the most common childhood diseases — tooth decay (5 times as common as asthma and 7 times as common as hay fever in 5-to-17 year olds.

Ever since Grand Rapids, Mich., became the world’s first city to dose its water supply with fluoride for the purpose of improving oral health, dentists have encouraged us to drink tap water. Until about 20 years ago, tap water was the only choice for most of us.

Now that we can have our pick of bottled still or sparkling, melted glacier or California river water, our teeth aren’t as likely to be bathed in enamel-fortifying fluoride. A nice tall glass from the spigot can do wonders for your teeth and for the general health of everyone in town.

Need economic proof? Here’s what the ADA says about the costs:

For most cities, every $1 invested in water fluoridation saves $38 in dental treatment costs.

Evidently, not only are those disposable plastic bottles of water a blight on the environment, but in the long run, the costs go far beyond their price tag.