Good dental health and candy are often competing ideas. Whether it’s trick-or-treating on Halloween, indulging in a goodie bag full of birthday treats, or choosing from a box of chocolates after a winter celebration, candy is one of those foods that’s easy to have for many days. Parents worry about overindulgence, tummy aches, low nutritional value, and the numerous behavioral side effects of consuming too many sugary treats.
Delta Dental of Washington shares that it’s possible to make better choices with the types of candy children consume and the ones parents distribute on holidays like Halloween. These are recommendations for good dental health, not only for Halloween, but year-round.
Sweet Treats Without the Tricks
When consumed in moderation, these candies are your best bet when you need to supply some sweet treats:
- Dark chocolate has far less sugar than other candies and can be brushed off teeth more easily. Some studies have even found that dark chocolate contains a compound that can help harden tooth enamel and help fight plaque.
- Candy with nuts helps break up the stickiness that can cause cavities to develop. The crunchy nuts added to chocolate bars and other candies can also help break up plaque already on teeth.
- Sugar-free gum, such as Xylitol-flavored gum, is a natural sugar substitute that helps fight cavities and is an excellent option for a sweet treat that encourages saliva production while being less harmful to your smile.
- Sugar-free lollipops, like Xylitol-flavored suckers, also encourage saliva production while they’re enjoyed and don’t harm teeth the same way hard candies do.
Candies that are Scary for Smiles
No candy is a friend to teeth, but these are especially bad cavity culprits. For your next Halloween haul, skip the sticky, sour, and hard candies:
- Sticky candies like taffy, caramel, or gummies are challenging to remove from teeth and can damage dental work in the process. A thin layer of the candy can coat the teeth and resist even the most powerful brushing, giving bacteria more time to cause tooth decay.
- Sour candies can erode the enamel on your teeth, permanently impacting their color and natural resistance to tooth decay. As tasty as sour candies are, they can contribute to tooth sensitivity and are high in sugar. To help your saliva neutralize the acids in sour candies when you do choose to indulge, wait 30 minutes before brushing—it will prevent further damage to tooth enamel.
- Hard candies like lollipops, rock candies, and suckers take a long time to dissolve in your mouth, and you can run the risk of cracking a tooth. With high sugar content, hard candies provide the bacteria in your mouth with access to highly concentrated sugar levels that can rapidly decay your teeth.
When You Do Have Candy
When your family does partake in Halloween candy, try to savor sweets at mealtimes as dessert. Eating candies with other foods helps wash away sugar and bacteria left behind by candy, especially with some sips of water in between to help wash it down.
“Offer a pre-trick-or-treating snack to your kids before you run out the door,” said Kim Trieu, DDS, a Delta Dental of Washington member dentist, who also teaches at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. “Eating a healthy snack or dinner before candy collecting helps avoid late-night candy snacking sessions.”
Rationing the big Halloween haul to one or two pieces of candy per day helps kids see candy as a treat rather than a bottomless buffet. Chocolate candy can even be frozen and stored for six to eight months past its expiration date, allowing for year-round candy treats.
Be sure to brush and floss before bed on Halloween to help keep the sugar bugs at bay.
Trade In That Candy — for Cash, Prizes or a Good Cause
Sometimes, having large amounts of candy at home can be too much temptation for kids (and adults). It’s better to get it out of the house- divide it and re-gift it to other families or find an organization to take the donation. Dentists around the Seattle area also have buy-back programs. Contact your local dentist to see if they participate, or visit one of the offices below. Show up at the dentist’s office at the designated times and trade your candy for cash.
Seattle-Area Candy Buy-Back Events
Seattle Kids Dentistry
- Date/Time: November 3-7 during office hours
- Address: 945 Elliott Ave. W., #101 Seattle 98119
- Contact: 206-743-8660
Seattle Dentistry will collect candy from November 3 to 7, during regular business hours. Paying $1/lb up to 10 lbs.
Molen Orthodontics
- Address:
- Auburn location: 1110 Harvey Rd., Auburn, WA 98002 | 253-939-2552
- Enumclaw location: 1771 Farrelly St., Enumclaw, WA 98022 | 253-939-2552
- Sumner location: 16209 64th St. E, Sumner, WA 98390 | 253-939-2552
- Date: November 3, 2:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Molen Orthodontics will buy leftover Halloween treats at $2 per pound, up to 10 pounds per child. Kids can also earn an extra $1 for bringing in two or more canned food items and another $1 for wearing their Halloween costumes.
If you belong to this specialty recycling service, Halloween candy is a featured category. Check your Ridwell account for more information. They’ll take anything individually wrapped and not Halloween-specific and give it to several organizations, including Birthday Dreams, Treehouse, and others.
Donate Leftover Candy
- Send your candy to Operation Shoebox. Individually wrapped candies are accepted. Note: Heat-resistant candy donations are needed for warmer weather. Also, customs regulations have changed- please be patient as officials work through this process.
- Ship or drop off your candies at Birthday Dreams. We’ve featured them before, and they are a unique organization, granting birthday wishes to children in need. Note: Candies must be individually wrapped and not holiday-themed. So, no Reese pumpkin-shaped peanut butter cups or Halloween-themed packaging.
- Donate leftover candy to Troops in a location near you! Treats for Troops offers drop-off locations in several parts of WA. You can also register as a candy collection site and ship to the Soldiers’ Angels Headquarters.
