Sweet! Hatboro Dentists Buy Back Halloween Candy

Are you worried that your kids' smarties and skittles will be cluttering your kitchen counter until Easter?

Area dentists - including two in Hatboro - are offering up a deal as sweet as the confections kids collected en masse while trick-or-treating. For kids (and parents) looking to thin their household's Halloween candy collection, participating dentists will pay $1 for each pound of candy collected. The national Halloween Candy Buy-Back program, as part of Operation Gratitude, then ships candy as part of care packages, to troops.

According to its Web site, Operation Gratitude hopes to send 60,000 care packages this year and needs "tons of candy, literally" to fill them. Last year the group sent out 125 tons of candy.

Mike Koumaras and his Hatboro practice, Dentistry 4 Kids & Teens 2, intends to help with that effort. Koumaras said the office has been participating for three years and collected more than 100 pounds of candy. 

"Last year we participated with a few schools in the area and that's how we got so much candy," he said. "It was actually overwhelming last year so we decided to keep it to our patients and their families only this year."

To turn that Halloween candy stash into cash, kids must bring candy to the office, where Koumaras said it's weighed. Kids are paid $1 for every pound of candy that they bring in to the office. Candy collections would continue for a few weeks after Halloween, he said.

"We thought it would be a great way to give back to the troops overseas while also encouraging our patients to not each TOO much candy for halloween," Koumaras said.  

To sell Halloween candy

In Hatboro two dentist offices are participating in the Halloween Candy Buy-Back program:

• Dentistry 4 Kids & Teens 2, 461 N Warminster Road, Hatboro; Phone: (215) 672-5437
• Advanced Dental Smiles, 533 N. York Road, Hatboro;Phone: (215) 672-9444