{"id":2216,"date":"2024-10-08T11:49:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T11:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2024-10-08T11:49:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T11:49:36","slug":"halloween-tooth-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/about\/halloween-tooth-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Your Children\u2019s Teeth On 31st October"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may not quite be a zombie apocalypse, but Halloween can be a scary time for kid\u2019s oral health!<\/h2>\n

Patients of SG Dental and Implant Centre who are also parents, can\u2019t fail to be aware that Halloween is just around the corner. Once barely heard of in the UK, this occasion has followed other American festivities and become popular over here. Of course, while many kids do like to be scared by ghosts and ghouls, the truth, as parents will know, is that the main attraction is to see how many sweets they can amass in one evening.<\/p>\n

While parents might be more immediately concerned with the hyperactivity, and possibly stomach problems that over consumption of all these sweets can result in, they should also be concerned about the potential for damage to young teeth and gums<\/a>. Although this may last only one night, the \u2018stash\u2019 of sweets can last much longer than that and have a long term impact on their oral health.<\/p>\n

The reality<\/h3>\n

While it might be possible to stop your children from taking part in trick or treating if they are not very old, there is a lot of pressure from kids to let them do this. Rather than put your foot down, you might wish to consider other ways around this problem.<\/p>\n

The chances are that they will eat some of the sweets while they are still trick or treating, unless of course, you accompany them although this will be more difficult as they become older. You could just confiscate the sweets of course but that is likely to mean a lot of screaming and wailing. Our Burton children\u2019s dentists<\/a> have below, suggested a few ways that you can let them have a fun evening while minimising the chances of them ruining their teeth.<\/p>\n

Provide them with water to drink<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Kids are likely to get excitable as the amount of goodies in their sweet bucket rises and will need to drink to keep up their energy. Given that they are likely to eat at least some of the sweets when they are out, providing them with water to drink will help to wash away at least some of the sugars straight away.<\/p>\n

Educate them about why eating too many sweets is not a good idea<\/p>\n

Some children will take little or no notice of course, but other children are more open to learning why eating too much sugar is bad for their teeth. This may work especially if they have had a painful toothache in the past.\u00a0 If they understand, they are likely to eat less of them while they are out at least. When they come home, new opportunities arise.<\/p>\n

Agree a \u2018candy trade\u2019<\/h3>\n

One of the most effective ways of limiting sweet consumption once they are home is to agree a sweet trade with them. Instead of letting them just eat what they have brought home, you can agree a deal to let them keep some of them (if they insist) while trading for the rest of them. Ideally, you should avoid letting them keep the stickier chewier ones as these will remain on the teeth the longest. There are numerous opportunities (or bribes!) to offer in exchange for their sweets. This could be a new toy, a trip to the cinema or whatever it is that your child enjoys the most.<\/p>\n

One word of warning to our Burton parents though. When you have the sweets in your possession, remember that your teeth are at risk too if you eat them. Sweets have little or no nutritional value and are best rationed carefully.<\/p>\n

Help other children<\/h3>\n

If you live in a small community where parents can agree, this is ideal, but even if it is just you, it will help a little. When kids come \u2018trick or treating\u2019 at your door, instead of offering sweets, you could provide them with a range of more tooth friendly things to eat or even small gifts such as toys. After eating their way through too many sweets, they will probably be grateful for these.<\/p>\n

Supervised teeth cleaning<\/h3>\n

Even if you have stopped supervising your children when they clean their teeth, this night might be a good time to break that. Tired and hyperactive children are much less likely to clean their teeth well before they go to bed, potentially leaving their teeth coated in sugar all night. Making sure that you watch them while they clean their teeth and making sure that they do so properly will help to minimise the risk of any tooth problems caused by their Halloween \u2018binge\u2019. If possible, encourage them to floss too as sticky sweets are likely to get trapped between their teeth.<\/p>\n

Regular check ups<\/h3>\n

If you have children, it is important to make sure that they understand the importance of keeping their teeth healthy. Part of this includes being responsible for making sure that they see the dentist every six months for a check up and any treatment that might be needed. If you don\u2019t have an appointment booked for them, or are uncertain and want to check, please do give SG Dental and Implant Centre a call today on 01283 845345<\/strong> so that we can book your child in for a check up if required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may not quite be a zombie apocalypse, but Halloween can be a scary time for kid\u2019s oral health! Patients of SG Dental and Implant Centre who are also parents, can\u2019t fail to be aware that Halloween is just around …<\/p>\n

Protecting Your Children\u2019s Teeth On 31st October<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2220,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions\/2220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgdental.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}