3 Easy Ways to Care for Your Teeth on Summer Vacation

Summer vacation is a time to relax and enjoy your time off to the fullest. You can leave a lot of your responsibilities behind and embrace something new and exciting.

But there’s one thing you can’t leave behind—your teeth. If anything, ensuring that your oral health is in good shape will make your vacation even better! Here are a few things to keep in mind on your trip to keep your smile looking and feeling its best.

Pack Your Bag

It can be hard to keep up with your daily oral hygiene when traveling, especially if your toothbrush and dental floss are packed away in your suitcase. For that reason, it’s often a good idea to pack a travel dental kit for when you’re on the road.

You can buy these at any supermarket or pharmacy, but if you’d like, you can make your own. Stock a personalized carrying case with a mini toothbrush, dental floss, and travel-sized mouthwash and toothpaste so that you can care for your teeth wherever you go!

Watch What You Drink

There’s nothing more relaxing than sitting by the pool with a drink in your hand, and tropical getaways commonly feature both virgin and alcoholic cocktails to enhance your experience. Unfortunately, these fruity drinks are typically loaded with sugar, which can be pretty rough on your teeth.

Alcohol compounds this effect by drying out your mouth. Ordinarily, saliva can carry leftover sugars out of the mouth and into the stomach, but when you drink liquor, you have less of it to go around. This gives sugar even more time to feed the bacteria in your mouth.

You can still enjoy tropical drinks in moderation—just be sure to wash them down with plenty of water, and brush your teeth thoroughly when you’re finished.

See A Professional Beforehand

The last thing you want is to have a toothache crop up while you’re on vacation. By checking in with your dentist beforehand, you can check for any underlying oral health problems that could be serious and make sure that you aren’t dealing with the consequences of cavities during your getaway.

About Our Practice

Welcome to the office of Drs. Belton & Schrimper General Dentistry! Everyone here on our team is motivated by providing our patients with remarkable, high-quality dental care. We also believe that the best dentistry comes from strong mutual respect between dentist and patient, so we will do everything that we can to make sure you feel heard and attended to.

If you have any questions about how to protect your oral health over summer vacation, we can be reached at our website or by phone at (252) 937-7878.