During the holidays, sweet temptations are everywhere! Make sure to protect your child’s smile bright by following these 5 tips.
Sticky candy canes. Frosted cookies. Sugary punches. During the holidays, sweet temptations are everywhere. This is also the time of the year when daily routines can be disrupted by holiday parties, vacations, and trips to visit relatives. Unfortunately, the combination of these two factors could spell trouble for your children’s teeth. So, make sure to keep your child’s smile bright by following these 5 tips:
Say Ho, Ho, NO to the Punch Bowl
It’s easy to forget that many drinks are more naughty than nice when it comes to your kids’ teeth. Punches and fruit drinks contain a lot of unnecessary sugars that interact with bacteria in a child’s mouth to form harmful acids. In addition, sodas also contain other harmful acids that can further damage your children’s teeth. So, make sure to steer your children away from sugary drinks and towards the H2O during the holiday season.
Maintain Your Routines
After a late night at a neighbor’s Christmas party, you may be tempted to let your sleepy children skip brushing and flossing their teeth. But it’s especially important to stick to good oral hygiene practices during the holidays when your children are likely to consume more sugar than they normally would.
Visit Your Dentist
Many kids have a week or two off from school around the holidays, which makes this an ideal time of the year to schedule an appointment for a dental checkup and for teeth cleaning.
Make Oral Health Hygiene Fun
To encourage your children to brush their teeth during the busy holiday season, take them shopping for a new, “fun” toothbrush — perhaps, one in a fun color or that has a favorite cartoon character on it. Another way to encourage your children to brush for the dentist-recommended two minutes? Play a two-minute snippet of a favorite holiday song that they can brush their teeth to.
Offer Smile-Friendly Snack Options
While you can’t control all of the sweet treats your child will encounter during the holiday season, you can at least make sure your home is stocked with a nice selection of teeth-friendly snacks, such as carrots and apples. In addition to being healthier than cupcakes and candies, these natural snacks are also fibrous, which means they can actually scrub off plaque from your children’s teeth.
No matter the season, the Red Apple Pediatric Team truly cares about the health of your children’s teeth. Please contact us today to set up an appointment or to learn more about our services.