With Halloween a few days away, orthodontists across the country are buying candy from their patients. The goal is not only to keep patients with braces from eating sticky and crunchy treats that could pop out a wire or break a bracket—many orthodontists use the buybacks as a way to give something back to the community.
The consensus rate for Halloween sweets this year seems to be $1 per pound. The real question seems to be what to do with all that candy.
Robinson Orthodontics, Columbia, Mo, will be buying candy on November 1 and, for the second straight year, will be donating the candy to the Central Missouri Food Bank. Last year, Robinson supplied the food bank with 150 pounds of candy.
Stephen Yao, DDS, MSD, of Moorpark, Calif, is offering a different incentive. For every pound of candy that he receives, he will donate $2 to a local charity that provides help to the needy. Once all the candy is collected, he will send it to our troops overseas.
Kenneth Lawrence, DDS, of Mentor, Ohio, who last year collected 80 pounds of sweets from his patients, will also send his candy to the troops.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Brian Chamberlain, DDS, MDS, will hold his buyback event Thursday and Friday afternoon, November 1 and 2, at Supersmile Orthodontics. He will donate $1 to Nevada Child Seekers for each pound of candy collected.
Nevada Child Seekers is a statewide nonprofit agency that assists families and law enforcement in locating missing, abducted, and runaway children, and provides prevention education programs for parents and children.
