Halloween is widely associated with traditions such as fancy dress, carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating – particularly popular among young children. But what is Halloween?
Halloween is celebrated annually on 31st October, originating from the Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would wear costumes and light bonfires to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated 1st November to honour all Saints – hence, All Saints Day. This day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain and so, the evening before (31st October) became known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. As time went on, Halloween evolved into a day of festive gatherings, fancy dress, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins and eating sweet treats.
Halloween celebrations are increasingly popular in the UK. With more people spending money on fancy dress costumes, Halloween themed parties and house decorations, as well as having a pumpkin carved and lit on display to signal to trick-or-treaters that they are welcome to ring your doorbell.
Head scratcher for Trick or Treating?
But what do you offer your little costumed visitors when they stop by your door? How often do they suggest a trick rather than a treat? If anything like our experience, not very! We see aisles in the supermarkets at this time of the year with multipacks of jelly sweets and chocolates for trick-or-treaters, but is there anything else that we can offer that may be less harmful to their teeth, but equally as well received?
Here at Growing Smiles, our focus is on oral health. We don’t want to make you that unpopular house on the street that wards off the trick-or-treaters because you have offered them carrot sticks or apple slices, but at the same time we don’t want to add to the statistics of tooth decay in children in the UK, so we thought we would offer some tooth friendly suggestions to treat your little visitors.
Growing Smiles suggestions for tooth friendly Halloween treats:
- Dr John’s sugar free candies
- Grapes – this may seem like an odd suggestion but grapes are lovely and sweet. You could wash them and put a handful in some zip lock bags
- Frozen grapes/raspberries or strawberries – amazing how kids love these frozen!
- Sweet Satsumas or mandarin oranges – peel them and pop the tail of a string bean on top to make a pumpkin!
- Dr John’s sugar free lollipops
- Peppersmith sugar free mints/lemon mints
- Breadsticks – make a broomstick!
- Babybel type mini cheeses – best if low fat – a couple of peppcorn eyes in the wax!
- Cheese strings – make them into ghosts!
Lots more ideas for sugar swap snacks can be found here
REMEMBER – it’s just one night. Take an ‘overspill bag’ and sort the goodies when you get home then you can ‘ration’ at mealtimes/special occasions and give away. Some dental practices may do a sweet swap where kids can trade in their treats for something a little more tooth friendly!
Sort out the haul.
Remember these are ‘treats’ not an all day every day diet component! Best at mealtimes and avoid anything sweet – even the best of the bunch, before bedtime. Don’t let the eating linger – best to eat them all at once.. the longer they are in contact with teeth the more harm they can do!
Pecking order for treats – Better to worst
Sugar free gum – not only sugar free but also stimulates saliva flow increasing buffering and remineralising tooth surfaces.
Sugar free lollies and sweets – with xylitol and erythritol – learn more here.
Chocolate – darker the better.
Sour sweets – acid and sugar is a double whammy – acid erosion and cavities!
Hard sweets and chews – stick around tooth surfaces for longer and potential to break teeth!
Sticky sweets – they loiter for longer.. with nasty intent on your teeth!
Fizzy drinks, sugary squashes and juices – acidic and sugary – constant bathing of tooth surfaces leads to erosion and cavities.
How often and how long sugary food and drinks are in contact with teeth affect the chances of cavities developing.
Just because it’s Halloween, doesn’t mean oral hygiene should go out the window. Remember, many kids will be grateful for whatever treat you give. It may even be a welcome change to have something other than sweets – it’s likely the parents will appreciate your efforts!
When you get the kids home don’t forget to brush their teeth before bed with fluoride toothpaste. Spit out after brushing but don’t let them rinse all the toothpaste away with water or mouth rinse. The fluoride will work while they sleep – helping teeth recover from all the Halloween treats. If they need a bit of extra help restoring the balance to their teeth consider using a remineralising agent.
Learn more about remineralisation of hard tooth surfaces – no matter your age if you are high risk of cavities or toothwear it’s worth knowing there is extra help for home care.
Dental professionals see the true horror stories, particularly involving children, on a regular basis, not just Halloween. Let’s do something to help reduce tooth decay and still enjoy this spooktacular holiday period. More happy Halloween tips for healthy teeth can be found here.
Happy Halloween from your team at Growing Smiles.
A great Halloween activity when the children are off school is disclosing! Get some disclosing tablets or toothpaste and let them show their scary plaque coated teeth off! Then get them dry toothbrushing to really let them feel as well as see how well they are using their toothbrush. Finish with a pea size blob of fluoride toothpaste to help restore any of those Halloween treats!
They don’t like mint? We’ve got you covered. Check out our mint free alternatives here.
Need some help from a pro teeth witch? We promise she won’t look like this – although that can be arranged! Book a coaching session with oral health coach LeighGS here.
