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Share on Pinterest A new report lists the most dangerous Halloween candy for your teeth and the six most common dental issues they can pose. Kosamtu/Getty ImagesCandy is all the rage on Halloween, but a new report shows what it can do to your teeth.The report uncovers the most dangerous candy in America for tooth health, and which candy parents hate most.Dentists explain how to get your sweet fix without damaging your teeth and gums.

Sure, Halloween is about dressing up in costumes and embracing all things scary, but for a lot of kids (and adults), the holiday is really all about the candy.

As good as a bag full of treats can taste, they often come with a cost dental issues.

In fact, one report by Shiny Smiles Veneers showed that 35% of Americans have suffered from candy-related dental issues.

I think its important to make good choices when it comes to what we eat and a candy treat from time to time is ok, however, daily, and frequent consumption of candy will eventually have negative consequences to our teeth, requiring dental treatment, Kristin Lenz Galbreath, DMD, owner of Union Grove Family Dental in Wisconsin, told Healthline. 6 candy-related dental issues to keep in mind this Halloween

The report identified the following as the most common dental issues caused by candy.Teeth sensitivity

Bacteria in the mouth can metabolize simple carbohydrates (sugar), and in turn, lower the overall pH in your mouth, creating an acidic environment, said Amy Sliwa Lies, DDS, owner of FiveSix Family Dental in Illinois.

An acidic environment can erode the enamel on your teeth, making them more sensitive and more susceptible to decay, she told Healthline.

Also, even when sugar is not metabolized, it can cause sensitivity on areas without enamel.

The way your teeth feel is through tiny little tubules in the dentin layer of the tooth. These tubules have fluid in them. The fluid expands and contracts in response to hot, cold, sweets, etcetera, and this is interpreted by the nerve of the tooth, contained, along with tiny blood vessels, in the pulp of the tooth, said Lies.

People with gum recession are commonly sensitive to sugar, added Lenz Galbreath.

Additionally, a common complaint for a tooth that already has a cavity is sensitivity to sweets, she said.Tooth pain

If candy causes damage to the teeth, fillings, or crowns, this can cause pain.

Biting into a tooth and cracking it can be very painful. A cracked tooth that is cracked into the nerve or root of the tooth is extremely painful, said Lenz Galbreath.Damaged fillings and crowns

If candy is sticky, it can pull out a piece of filling or pull off a crown, and if it is very hard, it can break a filling or a tooth, said Lies.

After repeated exposure to candy and the oral bacteria digesting the sugar into acid and eroding the enamel, tooth decay can form. While it doesnt directly harm the filling material this way, the decay can form at the margin of the filling or crown (the edge where tooth meets filling/crown), she said.Chipped or cracked tooth

Lenz Galbreath often sees patients months after they have broken a tooth.

A patient will know they cracked or chipped a tooth when eating but it doesnt hurt, so the patient does not see the dentist right away, she said. However, a few months later it will start hurting because a cavity has developed on the tooth or there is a nerve exposure.

This is problematic because a cracked or chipped tooth has lost its outer layer, the enamel, and the cavity progresses at a faster rate, increasing the likelihood for more treatment, such as a root canal or crown, Lenz Galbreath explained.Jaw discomfort

Chewing hard or sticky candies puts added stress and work on the temporomandibular joints (TMJ), which are the two joints that connect the lower jaw to the skull.

Repeated candy chewing will lead to pain and inflammation to the TMJ and muscles, said Lenz Galbreath.

Hyperextending or opening the jaw wide to eat large candy can also cause discomfort.Gum infection

While the report did not mention gum infection, Lies said the most common candy-related issue she sees is little pieces of candy getting caught under the gums and not being removed by floss.

Sometimes it will stay wedged under the gums, usually between teeth, and then can create a periodontal abscess (localized infection in the gums), she said. The most dangerous candy for your teeth

The report found the following candy to be the most dangerous for teeth.JawbreakerJolly RancherBit-O-HoneyStarburstTootsie RollLaffy TaffySnickersAtomic FireballButterfingerBlow Pops and Milk Duds

Parents noted that they hate Jawbreaker the most when it comes to candy.

I agree these candies are either harder than or stickier than any other natural or healthy food options, said Lenz Galbreath. Biting into one of these hard or sticky candies can break a tooth and cause severe tooth pain.

Sucking on hard candy or a mint every hour isnt a good idea, either.

Doing that, you are basically keeping the pH lowered all day and setting yourself up for decay, said Lies.

When it comes to candy that gets stuck in Americans teeth most often, the report found the following to be the biggest culprits:Laffy TaffyBit-O-HoneyTootsie RollSalt Water TaffyJolly RancherMilk DudsJelly BeansGummy BearsAirHeadsStarburst

Any hard candy or sticky candy that stays in the mouth for a long time can cause damage.

Part of the equation for causing cavities is how long the pH is lowered. A piece of chocolate dissolves quickly and you swallow it and then your saliva works to return the oral environment to a normal pH, said Lies. Hard and sticky candies that remain in your mouth a long time keep the pH lowered for longer, thus eroding the enamel more. When you eat candy, here is the best way to do it

According to the report, parents prioritize the following when it comes to their kids Halloween candy:55% check their candy for razor blades, drugs, glass, and other harmful stuff40% take some candy so their kids dont eat as much21% throw their candy out after a couple of weeks18% take the candy they want first

When indulging in the candy loot, Lenz Galbreath said it is best to eat it with a meal or right after a meal because the body makes additional saliva during this time in order to break down food and naturally cleanse the mouth.

Additionally, when eating foods, especially sugary foods, it is best to consume the food in less than 30 minutes and not eat the food for a long period of time. Reintroducing sugar to our teeth repeatedly increases the risk for cavities, she said.

While brushing or flossing is a great move, Lenz Galbreath said hold off from doing so for 30 minutes after eating, and then once you brush or floss, wait to eat for at least an hour.

This allows our saliva and the good bacteria to do its job of naturally protecting our teeth and gums, she said.

Lies says stick to moderation when it comes to candy.

Have a piece of candy, then be done. Get your pH back to normal as soon as possible by drinking water or brushing your teeth. Fluoride in the water or toothpaste can bind to the little eroded spots in the enamel and arrest/reverse the process, she said.

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Entertainment

Lily Allen says she had her children for ‘all the wrong reasons’

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Lily Allen says she had her children for 'all the wrong reasons'

Lily Allen says she had her children “for all the wrong reasons,” at a “high pressure” point in her career when she felt “overwhelmed”.

The singer and actress had her two daughters, Marnie, 12 and Ethel, 11, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.

By the time she became a mum, she’d already had hit singles including Smile and The Fear, released two studio albums and received a Brit Award for best British female solo artist.

Speaking about motherhood on the BBC podcast Miss Me?, which Allen hosts with her long-time friend Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really.

“Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.”

The now 39-year-old star added: “And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know?

“And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.

When asked by Oliver if it worked, Allen says: “Yeah, they did leave me alone. I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”

The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she went on to discuss her own childhood.

“My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy.

“You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.

“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”

Lily Allen is married to Stranger Things star David Harbour
Image:
Allen is married to Stranger Things star David Harbour

The ‘nasty scars’ caused by absent parents

Allen previously told the Radio Times podcast that while she loves her children, having them “ruined her career”.

She said her decision to prioritise them over her pop career was a decision she made so as not to inflict the “nasty scars” of being an “absent” parent onto them.

She also said the myth of having it all “really annoyed” as it simply was not true.

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Allen, whose younger brother is Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, married Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.

Away from her music career, Allen has branched out into acting over the last few years, starring in two plays in London’s West End, and winning a role in Sky drama Dreamland last year.

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Environment

JB Hunt launches first electric aftermarket semi truck route in Arizona

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JB Hunt launches first electric aftermarket semi truck route in Arizona

Following successful inbound implementations in the Pacific Northwest, North Carolina, and Mexico, Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is expanding the reach of its electric semi fleet into Arizona with long-time associate JB Hunt.

JB Hunt will add the new Freightliner eCascadia electric semi to its Arizona fleet immediately, and put it to work delivering aftermarket truck parts from DTNA’s parts distribution center (PDC) in Phoenix to multiple DTNA dealers along a dedicated route.

The electric Freightliner truck is expected to cover approximately 100 miles in a given day before heading “home” to a Detroit eFill charger installed at Daimler’s Phoenix facility.

This milestone marks the first all-electric route in the DTNA aftermarket parts distribution network, significantly reducing carbon emissions and setting a precedent for future sustainable outbound logistics operations.

“This solution with DTNA is a great example of our commitment to supporting customers’ efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and work towards energy transition,” explains Greer Woodruff, executive vice president of safety, sustainability and maintenance at JB Hunt. “JB Hunt owns and operates several eCascadias on behalf of customers, and our drivers have really enjoyed their in-cab experience. As customer interest continues to grow, we are here to enable their pursuit for a more sustainable supply chain in the most economic means possible.”

Daimler is analyzing future expansion opportunities throughout its internal parts distribution and logistics with an eye on electrifing additional routes and further reducing the carbon footprint of its logistics operations.

JB Hunt will evaluate its utilization of the charging station for other customers in the area, eventually enabling fully integrated zero-emission vehicle solutions into its 3PL fleets.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Daimler Trucks North America.

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Technology

Intel’s wild week leaves Wall Street more uncertain than ever about chipmaker’s future

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Intel's wild week leaves Wall Street more uncertain than ever about chipmaker's future

Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger speaks at the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20, 2024. 

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

It was quite a week for Intel.

The chipmaker, which has lost over half its value this year and last month had its worst day on the market in 50 years after a disappointing earnings report, started the week on Monday by announcing that it’s separating its manufacturing division from the core business of designing and selling computer processors.

And late Friday, CNBC confirmed that Qualcomm has recently approached Intel about a takeover in what would be one of the biggest tech deals ever. It’s not clear if Intel has engaged in conversations with Qualcomm, and representatives from both companies declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the matter.

The stock rose 11% for the week, its best performance since November.

The rally provides little relief to CEO Pat Gelsinger, who has had a tough run since taking the helm in 2021. The 56-year-old company lost its long-held title of world’s biggest chipmaker and has gotten trounced in artificial intelligence chips by Nvidia, which is now valued at almost $3 trillion, or more than 30 times Intel’s market cap of just over $90 billion. Intel said in August that it’s cutting 15,000 jobs, or more than 15% of its workforce.

But Gelsinger is still calling the shots and, for now, he says Intel is pushing forward as an independent company with no plans to spin off the foundry. In a memo to employees on Monday, he said the two halves are “better together,” though the company is setting up a separate internal unit for the foundry, with its own board of directors and governance structure and the potential to raise outside capital.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger speaks while showing silicon wafers during an event called AI Everywhere in New York, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.

Seth Wenig | AP

For the company that put the silicon in Silicon Valley, the road to revival isn’t getting any smoother. By forging ahead as one company, Intel has to two clear two gigantic hurdles at once: Spend more than $100 billion through 2029 to build chip factories in four different states, while simultaneously gaining a foothold in the AI boom that’s defining the future of technology.

Intel expects to spend roughly $25 billion this year and $21.5 billion next year on its foundries in hopes that becoming a domestic manufacturer will convince U.S. chipmakers to onshore their production rather than relying on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung.

That prospect would be more palatable to Wall Street if Intel’s core business was at the top of its game. But while Intel still makes the majority of processors at the heart of PCs, laptops, and servers, it’s losing market share to Advanced Micro Devices and reporting revenue declines that threaten its cash flow.

‘Next phase of this foundry journey’

With challenges mounting, the board met last weekend to discuss the company’s strategy.

Monday’s announcement on the new governance structure for the foundry business served as an opening salvo meant to convince investor that serious changes are underway as the company prepares to launch its manufacturing process, called 18A, next year. Intel said it has seven products in development and that it landed a giant customer, announcing that Amazon would use its foundry to produce a networking chip.

“It was very important to say we’re moving to the next phase of this foundry journey,” Gelsinger told CNBC’s Jon Fortt in an interview. “As we move to this next phase, it’s much more about building efficiency into that and making sure that we have good shareholder return for those significant investments.”

Still, Gelsinger’s foundry bet will take years to pay off. Intel said in the memo that it didn’t expect meaningful sales from external customers until 2027. And the company will also pause its fabrication efforts in Poland and Germany “by approximately two years based on anticipated market demand,” while pulling back on its plans for its Malaysian factory. 

TSMC is the giant in the chip fab world, manufacturing for companies including Nvidia, Apple and Qualcomm. Its technology allows fabless companies — those that outsource manufacturing — to make more powerful and efficient chips than what’s currently possible at volume inside Intel’s factories. Even Intel uses TSMC for some of its high-end PC processors.

Intel hasn’t announced a significant traditional American semiconductor customer for its foundry, but Gelsinger said to stay tuned.

“Some customers are reluctant to give their names because of the competitive dynamics,” Gelsinger told Fortt. “But we’ve seen a large uptick in the amount of customer pipeline activity we have underway.”

Prior to the Amazon announcement, Microsoft said earlier this year it would use Intel Foundry to produce custom chips for its cloud services, an agreement that could be worth $15 billion to Intel. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in February that it would use Intel to produce a chip, but didn’t provide details. Intel has also signed up MediaTek, which primarily makes lower-end chips for mobile phones.

U.S. President Joe Biden listens to Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger as he attends the groundbreaking of the new Intel semiconductor manufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio, U.S., September 9, 2022.

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

Backed by the government

Intel’s biggest champion at the moment is the U.S. government, whish is pushing hard to secure U.S.-based chip supply and limit the country’s reliance on Taiwan.

Intel said this week that it received $3 billion to build chips for the military and intelligence agencies in a specialized facility called a “secure enclave.” The program is classified, so Intel didn’t share specifics. Gelsinger also recently met with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who is loudly promoting Intel’s future role in chip production.

Earlier this year, Intel was awarded up to $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding from the Biden administration and could receive an additional $11 billion in loans from the legislation, which was passed in 2022. None of the funds have been distributed yet. 

“At the end of the day, I think what policymakers want is for there to be a thriving American semiconductor industry in America,” said Anthony Rapa, a partner at law firm Blank Rome who focuses on international trade.

For now, Intel’s biggest foundry customer is itself. The company started reporting the division’s finances this year. For the latest quarter, which ended in June, it had an operating loss of $2.8 billion on revenue of $4.3 billion. Only $77 million in revenue came from external customers.

Intel has a goal of $15 billion in external foundry revenue by 2030.

While this week’s announcement was viewed by some analysts as the first step to a sale or spinoff, Gelsinger said that it was partially intended to help win new customers that may be concerned about their intellectual property leaking out of the foundry and into Intel’s other business.

“Intel believes that this will provide external foundry customers/suppliers with clearer separation,” JPMorgan Chase analysts, who have the equivalent of a sell rating on the stock, wrote in a report. “We believe this could ultimately lead to a spin out of the business over the next few years.”

No matter what happens on that side of the house, Intel has to find a fix for its main business of Core PC chips and Xeon server chips.

Intel’s client computing group — the PC chip division — reported about a 25% drop in revenue from its peak in 2020 to last year. The data center division is down 40% over that stretch. Server chip volume decreased 37% in 2023, while the cost to produce a server product rose.

Intel has added AI bits to its processors as part of a push for new PC sales. But it still lacks a strong AI chip competitor to Nvidia’s GPUs, which are dominating the data center market. The Futurum Group’s Daniel Newman estimates that Intel’s Gaudi 3 AI accelerator only contributed about $500 million to the company’s sales over the last year, compared with Nvidia’s $47.5 billion in data center sales in its latest fiscal year.

Newman is asking the same question as many Intel investors about where the company goes from here.

“If you pull these two things apart, you go, ‘Well, what are they best at anymore? Do they have the best process? Do they have the best design?'” he said. “I think part of what made them strong was that they did it all.”

— CNBC’s Rohan Goswami contributed to this report

WATCH: CNBC’s full interview with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger

Watch CNBC's full interview with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger

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