Halloween is fast approaching. As fun as costumes and decorating can be, the sizable increase in our ingestion of candy can pose serious issues for our oral health. As always, brushing your teeth after eating is your best defense against tooth decay, but some candies are just too risky for individuals who have dental fillings. Now, don’t eat these candies with dental fillings!
Don’t Eat These Candies with Dental Fillings
You see dental fillings are pretty sturdy, but substances that are harder or stickier than normal foods can create complications pretty easily. Without you even being aware, the wrong candy could displace your filling(s), leaving a hole. This hole can have another filling applied. But in the meantime it is allowing bacteria and food fragments to gain access to the center of your tooth. Without timely treatment, this could lead to a root canal or even an extraction. To avoid all of this unpleasantness, it is best to avoid the top offenders entirely.
Sticky Candies
Anything sticky is going to pull on your filling, undermining its fit within your tooth. In many ways, these are the riskiest candies when it comes to immediate effect. They’re also some of the worst for long-term effects because they are more likely to leave behind fragments that will resist all but the most thorough brushing and flossing.
Examples of sticky candies that could have this effect include things like taffies and caramels as well as tootsie rolls and skittles. If you do decide to ingest these products, try to avoid chewing with the teeth that have fillings, and make sure to thoroughly brush and floss afterwards.
Lollipops
As long as you’re simply sucking on a lollipop, the damage can be managed. The primary concern with lollipops is the length of time that your teeth are directly exposed to sugar. This prolonged exposure can make tooth decay more likely, weakening the natural tooth around your fillings.
As a result, your dentist would prefer you avoid lollipops. However, if you can’t live without them make sure you’re brushing thoroughly and consider consuming the lollipop over multiple sessions rather than exposing your teeth to pure sugar for over an hour.
Gummies
Gummies like Swedish fish, gummy bears, and sour patch kids are sticky, acidic, and more likely to resist removal. As with other sticky candies, they can be enjoyed as long as you’re careful. However, their acidity means that immediate brushing could do more harm than good. To balance the acidity, try thoroughly rinsing your mouth with water prior to pulling out your toothbrush. Avoidance is the best way to protect your dental fillings in Cerritos, but this is the next best thing.
Sour Candies
Sour candies tend to be hard and acidic. Biting down on something much harder than your standard foods could seriously damage your fillings. If you are going to partake in hard candies, you absolutely should not bite down on them. Afterwards, rinse your mouth to balance the acidity and brush thoroughly a few minutes later.
Popcorn “Witch’s” Hand
Popcorn is notoriously bad for teeth. It has a propensity to get stuck between individual teeth, along the gums, and even in infinitesimal spaces in fillings from previous damage. As sweet as these treats are as a neighborhood gesture, there’s really no safe way to ingest them without risking damage to your oral health.
What You Should Enjoy
Chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, actually has some health benefits. It isn’t particularly chewy, hard, or acidic, which makes it one of the best options available to you in the world of candy. As long as you’re practicing moderation and a rigorous dental hygiene routine, all should be well. With that being said, if anything looks or feels off pop in to see your Jesmine Boghawala DDS dentist in Cerritos.
