October is here and your child is likely already getting excited about the upcoming Halloween festivities! We always encourage sticking to tooth-friendly treats and even more so when your child is wearing braces. So here are some of our favorite tooth and braces-friendly treats for your child to enjoy this spooky season!
Sweets to Avoid
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends staying far away from sticky, hard, crunchy or chewy sugary treats so be sure they don’t have access to these things that could harm their braces. These are notorious for getting stuck in braces and break brackets:
- Chewy Starbursts
- Hard Jolly Ranchers
- Sticky caramels
- Crunchy chocolates with nuts
Braces-Friendly Halloween Treats
-Chocolate: Soft milk or white chocolate like Hershey’s kisses or Kit Kat bars are great choices! While hard dark chocolate can risk damaging braces, peppermint patties (like York and Junior Mints) are safe choices for braces wearers.
-Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: These delicious year-round favorites are soft and don’t have nuts or caramel that might get stuck in their braces.
-Soft, chewy cookies: Crumble in your mouth cookies are easy on braces as long as they don’t contain caramel or nuts.
-Ice cream: Ice cream treats without nuts or caramel ribbons are super easy on braces.
-Apple slices: Dipped in melted white or milk chocolate, thin apple slices are both healthy and tasty!
Caring for Your Child’s Teeth in Braces
Along with enjoying braces-friendly treats, your child will need to keep up with their daily oral hygiene routine so their teeth will be strong, healthy and straight when the hardware comes off. Sugary treats can leave particles behind and set the stage for cavities to develop cavities with time. After indulging in any sweet treats, make sure your child gets into the habit of brushing their teeth extra carefully. Since a toothbrush can’t reach into the crevices between teeth and around brackets, they also need to floss sugar residue away in between teeth.
Help your child in braces access safe and fun Halloween treats and their ‘fangs’ will thank you! Protecting their pearly whites will also help them avoid inconvenient or painful dental emergencies from damaged braces. Our Sugarbug Dental & Orthodontics team in CA is here for your child’s smile. Dr. Armand Begian and his associates are happy to help at one of our three convenient locations. Call (805) 985-2400 today to learn more!