Help Your Kid’s Teeth Survive Halloween And Bonfire Night Unscathed!

Tips to help parents keep their children’s teeth safe during the coming festivities

Although we know that kids love sweets all year round, the combination of two significant events in the calendar, coming so close together, can be a real nightmare for parents who are doing their best to teach their children good oral health care.

While both of these events are celebrated for different historical reasons, this will be a long way from young minds and the focus will almost entirely be on the amount of sweets that they can eat. Of course, there is the social aspect too, but as dentists, our main concern is with helping you minimise the risk to their teeth from these events.

Halloween horrors

Although Halloween is a relatively recent event in the UK on any sort of scale, it has been very popular in the US for a long time. As with many things from across the ocean, it has now found its way well and truly in the hearts of young kids here. It can be a nightmare for parents though as their young children return home with huge bags of sweets which they have every intention of eating as soon as possible.

It is difficult for parents, as few will want to spoil their kids’ fun, but there are a few ways in which patients of Mike Allen’s Dental Practice who are parents can help their kids get through this without too much harm to their teeth.

Trick or treat

It is pointless telling most children to select ‘healthy’ options. We know they will go for the sweets. You can educate them though to choose sweets that are less harmful for their teeth. While there may be few, if any, sugar free options, the type of sweet can make a big difference. For example, chocolate will melt in the mouth in a very short time and most of the sugar will be washed away by your saliva. Stickier sweets like toffee take much longer to dissolve, and the nature of them means that some will get stuck between the teeth and probably remain there for quite a long time. We don’t need to tell you that this could easily lead to tooth decay and a child in pain with toothache.

Water

When your kids return home, they are likely to be very thirsty. Don’t let them head straight for the fizzy drinks but make sure that they drink plenty of water instead. Not only will this not add to the amount of sugar consumed, but will wash away a significant portion of sugar from their teeth and gums. It will also help them to stay hydrated during the night and help to prevent a dry mouth which is a contributor towards the problem of gum disease.

Take control

Even if you generally take a reasonably liberal approach to discipline with your children, there are times when we probably need to ‘put our foot down’ and this is one of them. Left to their own devices, they would probably eat all their sweets in one go. Not only is this sugar overload not good for them (and their teeth), but you are possibly also going to have to deal with their stomach ache later on. Take control and only allow them a small amount of sweets at a time.

Once they have eaten some of their sweets and the initial excitement has died down, you might wish to consider offering to swap their sweets for a trip to the cinema or another treat. By the time they have eaten all their favourite sweets, they will probably be keen to take up this option. Make sure that you then pass excess sweets on and don’t eat them all yourself or you might be ringing us for an appointment at our Burton dental clinic very soon after!

Brushing teeth

Above all; however tired, hyperactive and grumpy they are, make sure that your children brush their teeth really well before they go to bed, and no sneaking any sweets afterwards either. One of the worst things that you can do is to let them go to bed with sugar all over their teeth. We recommend that even if you have stopped supervising their teeth cleaning, it is worth doing so on this occasion. You might not be popular with them but you will be helping them maintain healthy teeth.

Bonfire night

Although not associated with sweets as much as Halloween, most organised bonfire evenings will have stalls that sell sugary stuff and then there is always bonfire toffee. Not only is this high in sugar and can stick to your teeth, but it is also very hard to bite into. It is not unusual to receive phone calls for an appointment because someone has broken or chipped a tooth on this. Try to avoid it and opt for healthy options if there are any. If not, then at least softer options such as toasted marshmallow. They may also be full of sugar, but they won’t break your teeth. Again though, make sure that all your family brush and floss their teeth well before they go to bed.

Both adults and children over the age of one year old should see their local Burton dentist at least every six months. If you don’t currently have an appointment, or would like any information about your oral care, please call Mike Allen’s Dental Practice on 01283 845345.