For people who typically hoard Halloween candy past Thanksgiving, here’s some surprising advice: Some dentists actually condone eating your Halloween candy at one time, rather than rationing it out over weeks.
That doesn’t mean eating lots of candy is good for you, of course—but it might be better for your teeth. After you eat sweets, bacteria feed on the sugars and starches left on your teeth and form plaque. Eventually, the acid in plaque begins to wear away at the enamel coating your teeth, forming tiny holes—also known as cavities—that grow larger and larger over time. “Cavities are a matter of having something to feed the bacteria—the sugar from the candy—and also the duration of time it’s in contact with your teeth,” says Anna Berik, a dentist in Boston.
