{"id":13368,"date":"2014-10-08T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=13368"},"modified":"2014-10-07T16:14:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T20:14:22","slug":"the-tricks-of-treats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=13368","title":{"rendered":"The tricks of treats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, even dentists (some of us) eat candy, here’s how to minimize the damage<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Dr. Stephanie McGann<\/strong>, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"UTStephCollogo\"<\/a>It\u2019s that time again. The onslaught of orange and black packaging and the mountains of Halloween candy awaiting purchase.\u00a0\u00a0 One would think those of us in the dental profession have a vendetta against this sort of thing.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the inside scoop \u2013 every dental office has a back room.\u00a0 You know, that place where employees keep their lunch, hang up their coats and (wait for it) stash their candy.<\/p>\n

Yes, we eat candy, cookies, cakes, desserts and drink soda with sugar. What we also do is brush our teeth at work and throughout the day. We rinse away the residual sugar even when we can\u2019t brush.\u00a0\u00a0 Dentists have been encouraged to give out toothbrushes instead of candy to their young friends and neighbors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bah humbug.<\/p>\n

There are some simple guidelines that will lessen any damage that that all that candy can cause. Always remember that the sugar from candy is damaging based on the amount of time the teeth are exposed.\u00a0 My favorite example comes from a roll of smarties.\u00a0 The teeth suffer less if the whole roll is eaten at one time instead of sucking on one candy at a time over a few hours. \u00a0From a dental perspective a Hershey kiss is better than sucking on a dumdum.\u00a0 The chocolate dissolves and does not linger on the teeth. The sucking of a hard candy can lead to a sugar exposure of 15 minutes or more.<\/p>\n

The Guidelines for a Healthy Trick or Treat:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Always check through candy brought home by youngsters.\u00a0 Any suspiciously torn wrapper, open packaging or something homemade from someone you don\u2019t know should be disposed of.<\/p>\n

2. Thin the pile by eliminating candy that is not really a favorite.<\/p>\n

3. Left-over candy that you meant to give out \u2013 get rid of it.<\/p>\n

4. Talk to kids about donating stuff they don\u2019t want to food banks or other organizations.<\/p>\n

5. Children with braces or other orthodontic appliances should stay away from really sticky chewing things.\u00a0 That means forget the laffy taffy, tootsie rolls, Swedish fish, dots and the like. Stick to chocolate, and candy that doesn\u2019t linger in the mouth.<\/p>\n

6. While most kids never heard of or don\u2019t like \u201cMary Janes\u201d they inevitably they show up at Halloween and a nostalgic parent has a taste of childhood. These candies are notorious for pulling apart dental work.\u00a0 If you have crowns, bridges or implants, just say NO.<\/p>\n

On a similar theme, the same damage that candy can cause is exaggerated by acidic sodas.\u00a0 Folks who are all day sippers of colas or other beverages with sugar, the sugar damage can be just as devastating.\u00a0 Kids aren\u2019t the only ones who still get cavities.<\/p>\n

\"TTT\"<\/a>If you are looking for a way to lessen the temptation and find a place to donate some extra candy, My Glen Mills office has been collecting unwanted leftover candy to send to Pennsylvania service men and women.\u00a0 The program, called Trick or Treat for Troops is in its sixth\u00a0year.\u00a0 Candy dropped off to our office will be part of holiday care packages sent overseas.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/brandywinesmilecenter.com\/trick-or-treat-for-troops<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have a healthy and safe Halloween.<\/p>\n

Dr. Stephanie McGann, who has more than two decades of dental practice experience, is a resident of the Unionville area and along with her partner, Dr. Marie Scott, operates The Brandywine Smile Center<\/a>, a family-friendly dental practice in Concordville. Dr. McGann <\/em>has opened a new practice in Valley Township, Rainbow Valley Dental<\/a>. She is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, even dentists (some of us) eat candy, here’s how to minimize the damage By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times It\u2019s that time again. The onslaught of orange and black packaging and the mountains of Halloween candy awaiting purchase.\u00a0\u00a0 One would think those of us in the dental profession have a vendetta […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,109],"tags":[5311,1243,258],"class_list":["post-13368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health","tag-candy","tag-halloween","tag-health-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13372,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13368\/revisions\/13372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}