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Halloween is a fun day to dress up and interact with your community, but it also encourages unhealthy eating habits. The hordes of sweets children get while trick-or-treating are mainly teeth-damaging, sugary candies.

In those candies is sucrose, a type of sugar generally found in sweet or sticky foods. Sucrose is generally blamed for sugar-related tooth decay. However, children look forward to this opportunity to dress up in costumes and go out for weeks or even months.

We've compiled lists of tooth-friendly snacks before, but this is our first Halloween edition! So, here is our list of healthier options to hand out this year.

Help fight tooth decay and try replacing your home’s candy stash with these Halloween candy alternatives.

• Sugar-free gum takes the number one spot. Not only is sugar-free gum regularly encouraged by dental health professionals, it’s also a hit with everyone, from kids to adults.

• Trail mix is something that you can buy in small packages and is perfect for handing out. It’s also a food that has something for everyone – raisins, nuts, granola and chocolate are all found in bags.

• Raisins come in snack-sized boxes, and have been found to actually help fight cavities. Plus, they’re delicious!

• YumEarth Organics Fruit Snacks are vegan and aren’t sticky like traditional fruit gummies but are still full of flavor. They don’t contain gluten, dairy, nuts, soy or artificial colors or dyes.

• Finally, if you want to stand out this All Hallows’ Eve, give out festive trinkets instead of food items. Check out spooky temporary tattoos, Silly Bandz, stickers, fake fangs or glow sticks.

Most people have a sweet tooth, developed through a lifetime of licking the cookie dough mixer or having a bowl of ice cream with their favorite TV show. And unfortunately, control is the name of the sweet tooth game.

And as apples don’t fall far from the tree, most children also develop a sweet tooth. But, they don’t have a lifetime of experience teaching them that too much chocolate will make their stomachs hurt.

That’s where you come in. Explain to your child or teenager that sweets are packed with refined sugars, which are addictive and harmful to their teeth.

But the question remains – how do you curb your child’s existing sweet tooth?

Dentists’ Most Wanted

Sugary beverages like soda, sports drinks and energy drinks all contribute to your child’s sugar intake. The more sugar they ingest, the more their bodies crave it. The same goes for most junk foods so try to stay away!

A good way to instill healthier eating habits when your kids aren’t at home is to pack their lunches instead of buying them at school. Helping them build a healthy, balanced lunch can create a lifelong habit of healthy eating.

Good Sugar Exists

The goal isn’t to cut out all sugars. Instead, encourage your child to consume sugars that are found naturally within certain foods, like fruit. The sugar in fruit is balanced by the other nutrients in the food, like fiber.

Fun choices, like chocolate covered strawberries or chocolate and granola covered bananas, are great ways to introduce balance into your children’s diet. A small amount of chocolate is there, but the core of the snack is fruit.

Start Eating Better Today

Curbing a sweet tooth can be simple when you arm yourself with nutritious alternatives. If your child’s stomach is full of healthy food, they won’t crave sweets.

The biggest obstacle is buying the right items at the grocery store. Consider purchasing foods filled with healthy fats like nuts, avocados, dairy products, eggs or turkey.

Here in the St. Charles and Creve Coeur areas, school is back in full swing for most kids. After a long summer break, it can be difficult to get your kids back in the routine of getting up early, being ready on time each day and in bed at the right time every night.

Setting the tone for your child’s routine can be quite a chore, especially when it comes to ensuring they are brushing their teeth daily. So, this blog provides some helpful tips to keep your child’s smile bright throughout the school year.

1. Brush before or after breakfast. Whichever you choose, make sure to stick to it. Some people find it easier to have kids brush right after they wake up; while others find it’s better to wait until their children are more alert. But, keep in mind that you should wait to brush until 30 minutes after they eat breakfast if it includes anything acidic like orange juice. These acids soften tooth enamel so brushing right afterward may cause erosion.

1. Brush before homework. Does your child often complain that once their homework is done they are too tired to brush their teeth? An easy fix is to have them brush before they start. If you can fit it into a routine that allots brushing time 30 minutes after dinner, that’s even better.

1. Get to bed. Making sure your children are well-rested is key to getting them out of bed in the mornings. According to the National Sleep Foundation, preschoolers typically sleep 11 to 13 hours. From ages 6-13, children should sleep 9 to 11 hours and beyond age 13 they should be getting the standard 8 hours of rest.

1. Floss at night. Don’t stack a lot of items in the mornings when you and your child may feel rushed. Instead, have your child floss when they brush at night and can focus on doing it right. Supervising your children and showing them the proper ways to brush and floss will help them develop good habits.

That’s really all there is to it! Keeping a good routine is all about practice; the more you do it, the better you will be at it!

At both our offices in St. Charles and Creve Coeur, we get a lot of questions about what is appropriate for a child’s dental hygiene. When it comes to a child’s primary teeth, additional considerations should be taken before undergoing any procedure because of how integral they are to oral development.

One common question we hear is whether or not it’s okay to whiten a child’s primary teeth. While it is important for their smile to be bright during their formative years, several factors must be considered. Today’s blog provides some practical advice when considering whitening your child’s teeth.

First, it’s important to know that the Academy of General Dentistry advises holding off on whitening until your child reaches 14-years-old. This gives the tooth pulp plenty of time to mature which will reduce the level of sensitivity in their teeth.

However, if you’re considering allowing them to use over-the-counter whitening strips, it’s best to hold off until they are at least 16-years-old. The chemicals in these strips can be very abrasive.

When your child’s permanent teeth begin to come in, you may notice that they appear more yellow than their primary counterparts. Don’t be concerned, this is perfectly normal. Primary teeth are always whiter than permanent teeth. This does not indicate that the teeth are unhealthy.

Many children with braces want to whiten their teeth because of the whiter areas that remain where the braces were. It’s a common issue, because braces provide long-term protection from food stains in those specific areas.

Teeth-Whitening Alternatives

Confronting this head-on before it becomes an issue is key. So, to prevent or treat these types of stains, we recommend:

Make regular dental appointments—after all, we love seeing you and your children in our offices! You don’t have to wait for the six-month mark to get a cleaning and check up. And unlike an over-the-counter solution, a dentist will screen and monitor the procedure to ensure that it is personalized, safe and effective.

Avoid tooth-staining food and drink—you know what they say about an ounce of prevention. Avoiding soda, sugar-loaded sweets, and other types of food and drink that lack nutritional value is the first line of defense against cavities and stains.

Use whitening toothpaste—they are much gentler than the bleaches found in whitening strips. There are several brands that have mild abrasives or polishing agents that help whiten teeth. Of course, brushing twice a day regularly scrubs away food particles and helps keep teeth white.