Trick or treat?: Children should be given stickers or playdough instead of sweets for Halloween, according to leading dentists.
This evening, children across the UK will be knocking on doors to collect sweets and chocolate for the annual Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating.
But with tooth extractions remaining the leading cause of hospital admissions for children in England, the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) has warned against eating sweets this year.
The professional body also suggested tips to help children avoid tooth decay, including offering alternatives to sweets.
Dr Charlotte Eckhardt is dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at RCS. She said: ‘Although we don’t want to be too draconian about one night of festivities, it is a good reminder that this should be regarded as an occasion and not the norm, you want to avoid sugar grazing as that’s more problematic for oral health.
‘One of the best things you can do is to avoid lollipops, as their prolonged consumption exposes children’s teeth to sugar for longer, increasing the risk of tooth decay.’
RCS Halloween advice
- Parents are advised not to let their children eat all their Halloween sweets in one sitting
- Children should avoid sweets that can get stuck to teeth
- People who hand out treats on Halloween could offer ‘alternatives such as stickers or playdough’
- They should also limit the number of sweets given out to each child
- Children should be encouraged to choose water over sugary drinks at Halloween parties
- Children should be given a new toothbrush after they finish their treats – if it is in a favourite colour or carrying a cartoon character, it might entice them to brush even more
- Parents should make sure children brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste before going to bed, even if they are tired.
Millions of children have not seen dentist
The RCS Halloween warning comes as nearly half (44.6%) of UK children have not seen an NHS dentist for over 12 months. This equates to more than 5.35 million children – an increase of almost half a million since pre-pandemic data.
This is according to new research from the House of Commons Library which analysed NHS data on dentists and dental practices in each constituency. This highlighted how the data has changed over time and the percentage of people that have recently seen a dentist.
Hackney was found to be one of the worst performing areas, with 62.2% not seeing an NHS dentist in the last year – nearly two in three children. Other constituencies with the worst rates of NHS dental access for children included Herefordshire, Portsmouth, Thurrock and the Isle of Wight.
The best performing areas included the City of London with just 9% of children not seeing an NHS dentist, followed by 21.9% in Redcar and Cleveland, and 23.4% in Blackburn with Darwen.
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