Top Scariest Candy for Your Teeth from MINT Dentistry

Male speaker:       Well Halloween is coming up and this season, Americans will be spending big bucks to pull off the scariest celebration. According to the National Retail Federation, the average person will spend nearly $83 compared to $74 last year, and total spending on Halloween nationwide is expected to reach $8.4 billion.

Female speaker:     That money goes to Halloween costumes, decorations, parties, of course candy. Ellen has more about those sweet treats.

Ellen:              Hey, thank you guys. Alright so Halloween is a spooky time of year, but what can be scarier is what that candy can do to your kid's teeth. So before you go trick or treating this year, we have the top three scariest and friendliest treats from dentist, Dr. Field Harrison. Good morning.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Thanks.

Ellen:              Thanks for bringing all these treats, but they're not all good, right?

Dr. Field Harrison:     No, they're not.

Ellen:              So let's start with the scariest candies.

Dr. Field Harrison:     The scariest candies and this is in no particular order. We have jawbreakers here. Now jawbreakers, they're scary for lots of reasons.

Ellen:              We can lift it up a little bit. Why is it scary?

Dr. Field Harrison:     Well anything that lasts in your mouth for a long time allows the sugar to affect the teeth, so on top of that, if you have little kids like I do, I'm worried that my kid might choke on anything hard, which brings me to Jolly Ranchers. I hate jolly ranchers, I get terrified every time my kid puts them in their mouth, and I've choked on Jolly Ranchers-

Ellen:              You have?

Dr. Field Harrison:     I'm just terrified of them in general, but again, they take a long time to dissolve in your mouth which causes cavities.

Ellen:              Right, okay.

Speaker 5:          Oh no.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Now we got Laffy-Taffies, these will stick to your teeth. These will cause cavities just because you think you're done and three hours later you have a little Laffy-Taffy in between your teeth. Again, sugar in your mouth for a long time causes cavities.

Ellen:              Right.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Adults get cavities from usually what they're drinking all day. It's typically coffee or diet soda, but kids, if you put this in their school bag, and you let them have candy for the next two months after Halloween, that's when they might get some decay. My recommendation is let Halloween end after 3 or 4 days, don't let it just be until they run out of all that candy.

Ellen:              So just indulge for that weekend or so, don't extend it.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Right, right.

Ellen:              Let's move on to the friendliest candies. We've got dark chocolate right here.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Right, dark chocolate is getting more and more good publicity. It's turning out to be good for us. I love dark chocolate, and I highly recommend dark chocolate. It has a lot in it, oxidants in it and it's just turning out to be very friendly both towards your teeth and overall health, so I highly recommend it and the dark chocolate, the darker, the better. So if you have a sweet tooth-

Ellen:              But it doesn't always taste so good.

Dr. Field Harrison:     If you have a sweet tooth, go with dark chocolate.

Ellen:              Okay, well speaking of sugar, sugar free candy gets a good rap, right?

Dr. Field Harrison:     Right, I think this is a little deceiving. Anything that says sugar free, people automatically think this won't be bad for me, this'll be almost healthy for me. Anything that says sugar free with strawberry cream, I get a little bit ... I just question just a little bit.

Ellen:              You're skeptical.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Right, I'm a little more skeptical because the carbohydrates in food can cause cavities, not just sugar.

Ellen:              But the sugar free gum is actually good for you, you say.

Dr. Field Harrison:     Sugar free gum is fantastic for both adults and kids that can chew gum. It causes saliva stimulation, that saliva causes teeth to not get cavities. Anything that stimulates saliva is good for your teeth.

Ellen:              So with that said, one last bonus tip. Basically you can eat candy ... What's best is if you eat candy while you're eating a meal, after you eat a meal because you're already producing that saliva, right?

Dr. Field Harrison:     Right. If you have a drink nearby, that's best. If you can flush out all that sugar out of your mouth with some water, that's best. While you're eating, your body's already producing saliva, so that again is better for you. But if you just eat candy periodically throughout the day, even if it's just a few candies you eat it throughout the day, you're really putting your teeth at risk.

Ellen:              Alright, well Dr. Field Harrison, thank you so much. I'm gonna enjoy these 'cause doctor said I could. I'm gonna throw it back to you guys at the desk.