Halloween is the best holiday excuse to indulge your sweet tooth. Trick-or-treaters are bound to collect a heavy bag of sugary treat options. While it’s tempting to dive right in and eat all the sweets, those with braces need to be careful. Certain candies are harmful to your braces and could lead to an emergency orthodontic appointment. We at KCC Orthodontics want to help you understand the best treat options this Halloween. Whether it’s store bought or home baked, KCC Orthodontics has compiled a list of the most and least braces friendly Halloween sweets to keep you smiling through the season.

The best Halloween treats for braces:

• Chocolate – Pure chocolate is soft and easy to bite into. Pieces are less likely to stick to brackets because the candy will melt in your mouth. As long as the chocolate doesn’t contain nuts or caramel, pure chocolate is a great treat option.
• Soft cookies or brownies – If you’re attending a party with diverse treat options, soft cookies and brownies are always a great option. These sweets are easy to bite into and are more fudgy than crunchy.
• Peanut butter cups – If you crave a bit of nuttiness in your candy, peanut butter cups are the perfect option. The chocolate will melt away in your mouth, and creamy peanut butter won’t snap off brackets.
• SweetTarts – Melt in your mouth candies are great choices. With candies like SweetTarts, the sugar will dissolve on your tongue and won’t harm your braces. Just make sure not to bite into these candies as that’s how damage could be done.

The worst Halloween treats for braces:

• Candy apples – Biting into apples is harmful enough to braces, but apples covered in hard candy poses an even bigger threat. All hard fruits should be cut into bite sized pieces.
• Chewy candies – Skittles, jellybeans, and Laffy Taffy are common treats to find in your Halloween candy haul, but they aren’t braces friendly. Biting into this type of sweet could cause wires to snap or brackets to come off the tooth.
• Nut-filled chocolate – While pure chocolate is a safe treat, chocolate with chunks of nuts are not. These candies, normally candy bars, are too hard to bite into with braces.
• Caramel – Caramel is a flavor of the season, but it needs to be avoided by braces wearers. The chewy, sticky substance can easily tear off brackets and get stuck in wires.

Just because you have braces doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the Halloween fun! KCC Orthodontics’ guide to safe Halloween treats will help you keep your treatment on schedule. Help us straighten your smile by doing your part to care for your orthodontic treatment, and click here for more braces care tips.