Blog · October 2026
Halloween with braces: candy to skip, and candy to enjoy.
October is National Orthodontic Health Month, and it ends with the sweetest night of the year. You do not have to skip Halloween because you have braces. Here is what our orthodontists, Dr. Greenberg, Dr. Rana and Dr. Apigo, tell our patients every October.
Candy to skip
- Sticky and chewy candy: taffy, caramels, gummies, licorice and jelly beans cling to brackets and wires and are hard to clean away.
- Hard candy and nuts: lollipops, jawbreakers and anything with nuts can pop off a bracket or bend a wire.
- Gum: it wraps around brackets and can bend the wire.
- Caramel apples: love them? Slice the apple into small pieces and dip them in thin, warm caramel instead of biting into a whole one.
Candy you can enjoy
- Soft, plain chocolate and chocolate kisses
- Peanut butter cups (smooth, no nuts)
- Candy bars without nuts or caramel, like wafer bars
Invisalign patients
Take your aligners out before any treat, then brush or at least rinse before you put them back in. Sugar trapped under an aligner sits against your teeth for hours.
Three habits for a cavity-free Halloween
Broke a bracket on a candy bar? Call us at (201) 991-4447 and we will tell you what to do. Happy Halloween from all of us at NA Orthodontics!
- Eat treats with a meal instead of grazing all evening.
- Drink water after candy.
- Brush and floss before bed, every night.
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