Kids Trade Halloween Candy for Healthy Smiles By Benevis

Introduction• Nationwide, more and more children are trading the candy

they collect at Halloween for cash, toys, and other prizes. This makes dentists and parents happy because kids are consuming fewer sugary sweets that can promote tooth decay. The trend also has the potential to benefit a variety of charitable causes.

For example, Benevis Practice Services, a nonclinical office support company that affiliates with dental practices around the United States, promotes Operation Troop Treats through its affiliated Kool Smiles network of offices. Participating Kool Smiles locations offer toys in exchange for candy, which is then packaged through Operation Gratitude to distribute to military personnel serving abroad.

Halloween Candy for Healthy Smiles

• Other such efforts include the Halloween Candy Buy Back program, started in 2005 by a dentist in Wisconsin, who decided to offer $1 for every pound of sweets turned in to his practice. As in the Benevis-supported program, Halloween Candy Buy Back partners with participating dentists to send the candy to the troops.

By Halloween season 2014, Operation Gratitude had sent more than 1 million care packages to men and women serving in uniform. These packages focused on entertainment, personal care, and grooming products, with the candy as an additional treat.