Keep Teeth Healthy All Season Long
Summer is filled with wonderful things, including sunshine, family road trips, BBQs, pool days, county fairs, and large amounts of time spent with family and friends. All these events tend to include sticky snacks, soda, and sweet treats. Unfortunately, along with all that high-calorie food, busy summers often push dental care lower on the priority list. Nevertheless, with careful consideration and planning, you can enjoy summer fun while maintaining a strong, clean, and beautiful smile that is ready for every picture!
Simple Summer Dental Habits
Road trips and summer travel tend to expose us to foods and snacks that we may not normally eat. Summer heat leads to lots more drink consumption, including sweet tea and lemonade. And who doesn’t enjoy the hot weather relief provided by ice cream and popsicles? All of these summer specials expose your teeth to more sugar, which gives oral bacteria plenty to enjoy too.
Moderation and Timing
Instead of giving up your favorite summer treats entirely, just think about how many times you eat them and consider a little moderation. Enjoy desserts with a meal, instead of as a snack, so that you’re not just providing a midday boost to bacteria. Drink water after all meals to help rinse away lingering sugars and acids.
Make Water Number One!
Make water your main beverage, especially during summer months. Carry a refillable water bottle with you whenever you are out and about. Water keeps your body hydrated, removes loose food particles from your teeth and gums, and keeps your mouth feeling cleaner after eating and snacking. Water — it’s what your body needs!
Smart Summer Food Choices
Summer gatherings often feature foods that taste great, but they may also stick around longer than expected. Caramels, taffies, gummies, marshmallows, and cotton candy cling to teeth. Potato chips, crackers, and other starchy snacks easily get stuck between teeth and then break down into readily absorbed sugars. All of these food options make it easy for bacteria to have a summer party in your mouth. Keep oral bacteria in check with the following suggestions:
Balance Your Plate
Enjoy summer foods while incorporating smile-friendly options such as crisp apples, celery, carrots, cucumber slices, and other crunchy fruits and vegetables. These healthy options increase saliva production and help remineralize the surfaces of the teeth with their high nutrient content. Crunchy foods are also good for the teeth and the jawbone, since they promote bone strength.
Say Cheese!
Another healthy summer choice is cheese. Most cheeses are rich in calcium and phosphorus, two minerals that promote strong tooth enamel. Cheese also offers a savory alternative when everyone else reaches for sweet treats.
Combine with Protein
While fresh fruit is naturally sweet and a great summer snack option, don’t forget that fruit is still high in sugar and acidity. Combine fruit with cheese, yogurt or nuts for a more filling snack. The added protein will help curb snacking throughout the day, keeping your energy level consistent during the busy summer months.
Carry a Travel Dental Kit
A little preparation makes dental care easier when away from home. A small dental travel kit takes little time to put together and usually fits neatly into a tote bag, suitcase, backpack, or glove compartment. Include these things in your travel dental kit:
- A small toothbrush
- Fluoride toothpaste
- Dental floss
- Lip balm
- A travel-sized bottle of water.
Brushing your teeth twice per day is a must whether you’ve had a long day at the lake or arrived late at your campsite. Keep your dental kit near your sunscreen or toiletries as a fast visual reminder. Floss also deserves a place in the travel kit. Corn on the cob, grilled meats, summer berries, and favorite picnic foods like fried chicken and sandwiches often leave tiny pieces of food stuck between your teeth. Flossing at night removes most of those pesky pieces of food before morning.
Be sure to keep toothbrushes clean and dry between uses. Store each toothbrush in a ventilated cover rather than an airtight container. Replace your toothbrush after illness or once the bristles start to fray.
Protect Teeth During Summer Activities
Summer adventures sometimes bring unexpected dental injuries. Biking, skateboarding, swimming, playing pickup basketball in the driveway and other summer sports are great lifetime sports that promote health and wellness. Still, it’s hard to feel healthy when you have missing teeth! A customized mouthguard from our dentist in Placerville helps prevent injuries while you participate in contact sports or energetic activities.
Remember that your teeth are not tools. Although we know it’s tempting, teeth are not for opening snack bags, cutting fishing line, removing bottle caps, or cracking nuts. Using your teeth as tools often results in chipped teeth, damaged tooth enamel, or lacerated lips, tongues and gums. Painful emergency dental situations result from using teeth when a razor, knife, or pair of scissors are the right tools for the job.
An ice cold drink tastes fantastic on a hot afternoon, but chewing on ice is a definite no-no! This habit puts great stress on your teeth and dental restorations, creating a greater risk of fractured teeth, broken restorations, and irritated jaw muscles. Chewing on ice is essentially like chewing on rocks, but it also exposes your teeth to the thermal expansion and contraction caused by extreme changes in temperature. Cracked and broken teeth are unwanted complications of ice chewing. Use ice to cool your drink, not to satisfy an urge to chew!
Summer brings more time at the pool. Did you know that frequent swimming in heavily chlorinated water may eventually weaken your tooth enamel? To avoid this, we recommend a quick rinse with fresh water immediately after swimming to wash away chlorine.
It is also important to maintain regular dental exams and cleanings even during the fun-filled summer months. Regularity helps your dental team identify and address dental concerns before any discomfort interrupts your summer plans. You may want to hold any major dental work until after a planned vacation, but ordinary dental maintenance is best scheduled for before your trip. Clean teeth make for better pictures!
Your All-Season Placerville Dental Team
Enjoy the summer by applying these recommended dental habits! Receive quality dental care for each member of your family by contacting the Placerville Dental Group. This includes unexpected emergencies that affect your dental health. Our experienced team provides personalized services that help Placerville families enjoy healthy smiles through every season, including summer.
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