As a family dentist in Houston, TX, we are teased all the time about hating candy and hating Halloween. Well, it’s just not true! We love Halloween at Houston Uptown Dentists! Our patients are wonderful, and we enjoy celebrating with them. That’s not to say that we approve of every type of Halloween candy, but the holiday itself is so much fun.

It wouldn’t be Halloween without some ideas for how to make Halloween a little bit safer for the smiles in your life. Today, we want to talk to those of you who are trying to find the perfect treat to pass out to all of the neighborhood kids. It can be tough! It’s difficult to know what kids like, and you don’t want to be left with candy in your house that you don’t like. We have some solutions for you.

Keep Kids Happy & Safe on Halloween Night

We have put together the master list of treats that kids will absolutely adore! Before we get to that, let’s talk a little bit about things that you should avoid. There is a very simple explanation that you should understand regarding candy:

It’s not about how much sugar is in the candy but how long the sugar will stay in the mouth.

Of course, the child’s belly is a different story, but when we are looking purely at risk of decay, the best treats are those that can be consumed quickly and rinsed away completely.

Take a bowl of ice cream, for example. It has a lot of sugar in it, but you’re going to eat that bowl of ice cream over a 10-15 minute period, and when you are finished, you can rinse the remaining residue out of your mouth. Now, consider a glass of sweet tea or fruit juice. You might sip on that for an hour or more. Though it has less sugar, your teeth are in a constant sugar bath for at least an hour.

So when you are choosing Halloween candy, consider how long it will take the child to eat the candy and how likely it is to stick to their teeth after they’ve eaten it. Avoid things like caramels, fruit chews, and large suckers because those are the types of candy that go in a mouth and get stuck.

Consider These Kid-Approved Halloween Treats

Now that you have a better understanding of what to avoid and why, let’s talk about the treats that are great for kids during Halloween. After all, we want these little ones to have a great time, right? It’s not all gloom and doom from a dental point of view! Here are some fun and tasty treats:

 

  • Chocolate – It’s a crowd favorite for sure. Kids love chocolate, and it meets our criteria of being quick to eat and easy to rinse away.
  • Sugar-Free Gum – This one will last a long time, but that’s ok because it’s sugar-free! Kids love to chew any kind of gum, so they won’t even mind that it’s sugar-free.
  • Mini Water Bottles – Children are going to be walking around for an hour or more. They get THIRSTY! We guarantee your bottle of water will be the first treat the kids reach for at the end of the night (or before)! You can even make it festive with some decorations!
  • Glow Sticks – We don’t know what it is about that tube of light, but kids go nuts for them! Plus, parents can immediately put the glow stick on their child’s costume as an extra safety measure while they walk around in the dark.

Trust us when we say that these treats are complete slam-dunks for the trick-or-treaters in your life. Call us at 832-463-1021 to learn more about how we help Houston families have healthy smiles.