Tips to Regulate Your Child's Sugar Intake this Halloween

Halloween is a popular holiday for many across the country. It's also one of the most dangerous times for your teeth. Sugar reacts with the bacteria naturally found in your mouth and causes buildup on your teeth. The influx in sugar around Halloween can cause permanent damage to your child's teeth. If you're looking for unique ways to regulate your child's candy intake, take a look below.

How Sugar Reacts Inside Mouth:

As you eat food with a high level of sugar, like candy, the bacteria in your mouth feed on the sugar that you intake. Once this bacteria feeds off sugar, it breaks down into acids that eat away at the enamel protecting your tooth. The longer sugar is in the mouth, the more the bacteria break down and can eat away at the tooth enamel. Crevices in the tooth that hold sticky, sugary candy are usually the most prone to having an issue caused by the bacteria eroding the protective layer on the teeth.

Ways to Regulate Child's Sugar Intake:

Donate Candy
There are a number of organizations and/or places to donate candy. You can help spread the joy by offering a portion of your child's candy to a good cause. It will help them feel good about giving back and help their teeth feel good with less candy to consume.

Limit Pieces of Candy
A good way to regulate candy intake is to set a limit of how many pieces can be eaten per day. While it may be tough on Halloween as kids sneak a few pieces in between trick-or-treat spots - days after you can only allow a small amount of candy to be consumed.

Divide Candy
Instead of one child eating a bunch of candy, consider dividing the candy up between your entire household. You can even bring some of the candy to your work to help reduce the amount your child eats.

Now that you know some ways to help keep your child's sugar intake at bay this Halloween, you're ready to start implementing some of these techniques tonight. As your kids are out trick-or-treating, consider which ways you will regulate their sugar intake. No matter what you choose, our southern Missouri dentist encourages you to monitor your child's sugar intake. Here at Access Dental & Dentures, we know this can be a challenging time of year for oral care but we are always here to help offer dental care advice. Contact our dentist office near Springfield, MO today to schedule an appointment to get your child's teeth professionally cleaned and checked over.

We want to be your dentist because your family deserves a great smile!

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