Braces-Safe Candies to Enjoy on Halloween

Most of us have a sweet tooth and love candy, and we all know that Halloween means candy. We don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, but most orthodontic treatment plans take between 18 months to 3 years to complete, and your orthodontist in Elmhurst doesn’t want you to do anything that would damage your braces and undo months of your hard work and treatment. So, here are a few words of advice.

Sugar and Your Braces and Teeth

Candy contains a lot of sugar, and large quantities of sugar are not good for your health. Sugar, along with carbohydrates in general, provides lots of fuel for bacterial growth that damages teeth. If you’re not wearing clear, removable braces, sugar can quickly become a problem. The bands, brackets and wires of metal braces provide plenty of places for sugar to hide and become a fertile ground for decay.

Treats to Avoid

That said about sugar, hard candies, chewy candies, caramel, taffy, nutty candies, jelly beans, licorice, bubble gum, and suckers are some of the treats that can create problems for trick-or-treaters and should be avoided. Also, sour and fruity candies may be the worst due to the fact that they are highly acidic, and the acids can wear down the enamel that protects your teeth from decay.

Halloween Friends

But here are some treats that are your friends. They include dark chocolate, sugar-free gum, soft chocolate kisses, peanut butter cups, gelatin treats, malted milk balls, ice cream, smoothies, apples in bite-size pieces, peppermint patties, and cookies and crackers (but watch out for hardness).

While enjoying your treats, remember to brush and floss daily! If you do damage your braces, call your orthodontist in Elmhurst, Oakbrook Orthodontics, at 630-705-7900, and we’ll get you fixed up again.