Dentists Take Kids Halloween Candy — But It's All Cool

Your kids probably get way more Halloween candy than they can possibly eat, right? Well, there's a pretty perfect way to shed some of that excess candy: donate it to your dentist!

Dentists throughout the country are participating in an awesome scheme to keep kids' chompers healthy and their waistlines svelte. Wisconsin dentist Chris Kammer is credited with taking the idea national four years ago when he heard that some of his dentist buddies were paying $1 for every pound of Halloween candy their young patients brought into their practices. Kammer thought this was genius and attempted to nationalize the idea, creating a Web site, www.halloweencandybuyback.com, which allows users to search for participating dentists.

One of the best parts about the plan? All the candy is then shipped to troops overseas. "It's good to get anything from home," Bryan Adams, spokesman for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the Newark Star-Ledger. "It let's you know people back home are still thinking about you, they still care about you."

What's even better, the troops often give the candy to local kids in Iraq and Afghanistan, who predictably love it. (Candy is the universal symbol of peace, is it not?) Adams said that when he was a specialist and sniper in the Army's 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, he and his fellow soldiers would go to remote villages near Tikrit, and hand out candy. After a few visits "there would be a parade of kids," he said, "they would just be mobbing us."

But this whole Halloween candy plan benefits kids back home in the good ole' US of A too. They get a little pocket change and a feeling of pride for doing what's right.

That sounds like the biggest Halloween treat of all.

Photo courtesy of willc2 via Wikimedia Commons.