Braces-Friendly Halloween Treats
With Halloween comes ooey gooey caramel and nutty chocolaty treat. Which is wonderful for those of us who totally throw our strict diets out the window, er, don’t have braces, but what about our teens with orthodontia business going on? No caramel apples for you (said in your best soup nazi impersonation).
But teens with braces can still get their sweet on. October is National Orthodontic Health Month (NOHM) and the Association of Orthodontists (AAO) has some suggestions to satisfy the sweet tooth in all of our teens with braces.
Some foods can bend or break braces which (1) doesn’t make a parent’s pocketbook very happy and (2) can prolong treatment which likely won’t make a teen very happy. The AAO recommends staying away from such foods as:
- All hard candies
- All chewy candies
- Caramel
- Nuts
- Licorice
- Taffy
- Jelly beans
- Hard pretzels
- Bubblegum
- Popcorn (including unpopped kernels)
- Taco chips
- Ice
So what does the AAO recommend as braces-friendly treats? They tell you to look for foods that are soft and easy to chew. Many of their suggestions aren’t something you’ll likely get in your trick-or-treat bag, but you could trade one of these treats for that snickers bar in your teen’s treat bag. The list of braces-safe treats includes:
- Soft, melt-in-your-mouth chocolates
- Peanut butter cups
- Milk shakes
- Gelatin
- Peeled, thinly sliced apples
- Ice cream
Or skip trick-or-treating all together and just make some yummy braces-friendly Halloween recipes at home.
And don’t forget to remind your teens to always brush and floss after treats (even if they don’t have braces).
Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.
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