Sour, Gummy Candy is 'Worst' for Teeth, Dentist Says

When it comes to Halloween candy, it's better to dump out your stash and eat a bunch in one setting instead of eating it throughout the day -- better for your teeth anyway, says . 

Eating a piece an hour leaves sugar in your mouth all day, he said.

"There's always that residual sugar that gets in your teeth," McPherson said. "The problem is it lowers the ph levels of your mouth. That acidic environment is really harmful to the teeth."

Traditional wisdom is that if any candy is "good" it's chocolate because it dissolves quickly, he said.

"Basically, it's the chewy stuff that sits in your teeth," he said."Starburst is pretty bad, it's definitely on the bad list. When you chew it up, it gets in the little grooves between teeth, it can sit there for a long time."

Gummy candies like gummy bears or gummy worms and sour flavored candies like sour skittles, lemon heads, fruit chews, war heads, sour spray, Wonka fun dip powder are bad for your teeth.

"They compare it to battery acid," McPherson said. "It's not as bad as that but it's not as far off as you'd think."

Energy drinks aren't good either.

"The one thing that kind of surprises me is how bad some of the energy drinks are," McPherson said. "Like Red Bull, it's terrible, and Gatorade and Powerade, they think i'ts kind of a health drink somehow, but it's actually pretty bad."

At McPherson's office, his staff hands out xylitol suckers. Xylitol is a natural sugar but the bacteria they can't use it so it doesn't hurt your teeth, he said.

With his own children, McPherson said he lets them eat whatever they want on Halloween.

"After that we take the rest of the candy and trade it in for something, we'll go and buy something from Target and we get rid of the rest of the candy," he said.