Eat This Food And You'll Wreck Your Smile

When Halloween rolls around, there's a reason parents may take away their child's candy basket. Candy tacks on additional calories with zero nutritional value, it will have your child bouncing off the walls, and if he or she overdoes it, too much candy can ruin his or her teeth.

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Avoiding candy is impossible for children, but chewy candy happens to be the worst if you are looking to protect your pearly whites. Caramels, taffy, and Swedish Fish are hard to chew, meaning they stick to your teeth in the process. This type of candy takes longer to chew, giving it more time to wedge in, on, and between your teeth. The bacteria in your mouth happily feeds on the sugar.

"Bacteria burns sugar to make acid, which dissolves the protective layer of tooth enamel and causes cavities," said Matthew Messina, an Ohio-based dentist and spokesman for the American Dental Association to Health.com.

With that being said, the chewy and sour type of candy is the winner for the worst food for your teeth. Messina points out that a chewy texture, added sugar, and acid deliver a "triple whammy of negatives." As if the acid from the sugar and bacteria were not enough, sour candy has additional erosive acid that will destroy your teeth.