You're a Dentist, Do You Give Out Candy?

Jim Ellis fills us in on what he gives out on Halloween, and how to stop cavities on this spooky day.

Hello, this is Dr. Ellis for Oral Care Club talking about a question that I get every year. And that's, "It's Halloween, you're a dentist, "what do you hand out for Halloween?" Well, I hand out candy, it's Halloween. "Well, you're a dentist, you're gonna cause cavities. "Why would you do that? "Isn't that against your professional beliefs as a dentist?" No, no. It's Halloween. "Don't you want to hand out pencils or stickers?" "If I was dumb, that's what I'd want to hand out." Children need candy on Halloween. I'm giving out loads of candy on Halloween.

Now, that doesn't mean I hate kids. That doesn't mean all I want to do is pad my pockets with money. It means neither of those things. It means that you can be smart about it. Like everything, you can be smart about it and not cause any damage to your teeth. When your kids get home, I have five kids. When my kids get home, I give them a time limit. They have 15 minutes, trade their candy, make the piles, sort their candy, eat their candy, eat whatever they want. 15 minutes is done, I get their candy. I send them to the bathroom. They brush, they floss, they rinse, no damage done to your teeth in the 15 minutes time of eating the candy.

The next night, they get another 10-15 minutes, eat their candy, go to the bathroom, brush, floss, rinse. No damage done. After a couple nights, the only stuff that's left is taffy. Who gives taffy? Come on, please, who gives taffy? Anyway, the only thing that's left after a couple days is taffy and the kids don't want it. It gets hard anyway and you throw it away. It's just good for them to throw at each other. Anyway, repeat that thing. The one thing you don't want to do is you don't want to let your kids take the candy with them to bed. Snacking on it all night long, all that gooey stuff in their mouth. And you have to have them brush and floss and rinse after. So, get all the candy you want, certain time period every night. After a couple nights all your candy's gone, everything's fine, no damage to your teeth. So, give out candy, it's Halloween. Have a good one.