Halloween Candy's Sweet Deception: Sugar Lurks in Unexpected

Most parents take great care to monitor their children’s sugar intake, but Halloween is the one time of year when the rules of dental care are often broken. The endless candy from trick-or-treating can wreak havoc on teeth, so when a dentist tells parents their children’s teeth show signs of decay it obviously comes as an unpleasant surprise.

Tooth decay is caused by frequent exposure to foods containing carbohydrates (starches and sugars), which mixes with the mouth’s natural bacteria to form a mild acid that erodes tooth enamel. Common culprits are soda pop, candy, ice cream, milk, and cakes. Therefore, Halloween candy is public enemy #1 when it comes to teeth.


ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner, Dr. Raymond Hatland, DDS, provides some tips to help prevent teeth from the harmful effects of sugar this Halloween:

• Be a label snob. Read food labels carefully to identify sugars, which also come in the form of corn syrup, molasses, dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose and honey. Even an innocent breath mint can be made of pure sugar that can cause cavities.
• Wash it down. When eating Halloween candy, make sure to finish it off with a big glass of water, which will clean sugar residue off the teeth.
• Avoid sticky situations. When satisfying your candy cravings keep in mind that sticky sweets like toffee or hard candy that linger in your mouth compound the effects of sugar by offering a sustained food source for bacteria. Remember that it’s not necessarily the amount of sugar that can cause decay, but how long the candy stays in the mouth, which is why hard candies like suckers or sticky treats such as caramels and jujubes are poor choices from a dental perspective.
• Chocolate lovers rejoice. If trying to rationalize a chocolate craving, remember that popping a piece of solid chocolate in your mouth is better than choosing one filled with a gooey center, as the candy filling may stick to the teeth and provide a longer lasting food source for the natural bacteria to feed from in the mouth.
• Mind your whole body. Halloween comes but once a year, but even several days of excess sugar can wreak havoc not just on your teeth, but elsewhere in the body too. Too much sweet stuff can cause blood sugar to spike and cause an energy crash later on. Look after your dental and general health by regularly reading all the ingredients in all packaged foods before you buy them and seeking out low-sugar alternatives.

If possible, rinse your mouth with water and brush your teeth thoroughly after exposure to sugars. If you can’t do that right away, keep a supply of sugar free gum with xylitol on hand to help cleanse your mouth. This way you can enjoy Halloween without the scary cavities.


About ChicagoHealers.com Chicago Healers (http://www.chicagohealers.com/) is the nation’s pioneer prescreened integrative health care network, offering a comprehensive understanding of each practitioner’s services, approach, and philosophy. Our holistic health experts teach and advocate natural and empowered health and life choices through their practices, the media, educational events, and our website. With close to 200 practitioners and over 300 treatment services, Chicago Healers has provided nearly 400 free educational events for Chicagoans and has been featured in 300+ TV news programs and print publications. For more information, visit http://www.chicagohealers.com/.

What to do With that Tooth

5 Unexpected Things to Do with Your Kid’s Baby Teeth

The truth most parents aren’t willing to admit is that they likely toss out the baby teeth their kids hide under their pillow for the Tooth Fairy. So the folks at StemSave put together this list of five great things to do with teeth that will keep your kids healthy and happy in the future:

1. Bury your baby's teeth in a time capsule in the backyard. You can add other keepsakes, like a favorite t-shirt, toys, books or photos, so when your children grow up, they can remember those momentous occasions.

2. Make a baby book album with photos and … teeth. In addition to saving the first lock of hair, you can save the first tooth.

3. Get a "First Tooth" kit or porcelain tooth bank. Little girls love putting keepsakes in a jewelry box. Consider doing the same for them with a first tooth kit!

4. Get a Tooth Fairy pillow. These can be personalized for your child, boy or girl, with a discrete place to stash the tooth and a note to the tooth fairy. Just “Google” Tooth Fairy Pillow and you’ll find lots of great sources.

5. Preserve those baby teeth with a private bank where doctors and scientists can save the valuable stem cells from the tooth’s pulp. Many parents don’t realize that stem cells are in baby teeth and that you can store them for future use. It’s also a great second chance for parents who didn’t save their baby’s cord blood.


StemSave is the stem cell company that works with families, doctors and dentists to educate them about the opportunity of recovering stem cells from teeth. Scientists are making countless breakthroughs in stem cell research, doing everything from regenerating bones to muscle and nerve tissue. The implications for medical treatments are endless.


For more information, visit http://stemsave.com/.