Halloween is a fun time for kids. It is the one time of the year when they are allowed to indulge, and maybe even have candy overload. Such indulgence, however, does not bode well for dental health, and a couple of dentists in Philadelphia came up with an interesting way to control the amount of candy and chocolate that kids will have for Halloween – while at the same time doing a little something for deployed troops.

According to a feature on the PhillyBurbs.com, Dr. Nalin and Arpan Patel, both dentists, are sponsoring a Halloween Candy Buy Back this week, in their offices in Bristol Township and Middletown. They are hoping that kids will be willing to set aside some of their Halloween candy and sell it to them, instead of consuming them all. They are offering to buy back Halloween candy for $1 a pound. The dentists, who are father and son, intend to send the candy to deployed troops, who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The dentists said the following in a joint statement: “Not only will it save your teeth, our troops that are serving our country overseas will be able to enjoy a Halloween away from home.”

This is the fourth Halloween that the dentists are sponsoring a buy-back program. They shared that they have so far spent about $500.

The program will begin on Monday and end at 5 p.m. on Friday. The candy can be dropped off at the following locations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Oxford Valley Dental Excellence office at 240 Middletown Blvd., suite 100, in Middletown, and Advanced Dental Care office at 532 S. Oxford Valley Road in Bristol Township