When you have braces, you have to be more careful about what you eat, but you don’t have to let your braces ruin your Halloween fun. Whenever you encounter a bag or bowl of candy, the general rule is the softer the candy, the better. Can it melt in your mouth? OK to eat.

Keep in mind that braces are affixed with a special type of orthodontic glue, and when you work the powerful muscles of your jaw to break apart hard candies, it can cause braces to pop off. Braces are also sort of fragile in their own way, and the strong impact of intense crunching can damage the brackets.

And you should avoid sticky, chewy candies (even if they’re soft). They aren’t always hard to chew, but they can get stuck in your brackets, making your braces hard to clean and fostering tooth decay.

Here’s a partial list to keep in mind:

Fine to eat

• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Hershey’s Kisses
• Three Musketeers
• Mounds Bars
• Kit Kats (which are a little crunchy but still OK)
• Crunch Bars (again, a little crunchy but OK)
• M&M’s (but let ’em melt in your mouth first!)

Give away or trade

• Snickers
• Hershey’s Bars with Almonds
• Jelly Beans
• Laffy Taffy
• Tootsie Rolls
• Caramels
• Twizzlers
• Skittles
• Chewing Gum
• Gobstoppers

Even with the OK-to-eat candies, you don’t want that sugar clinging to your brackets for long. Be sure to brush soon after you eat anything sweet, and enjoy your holiday!