As the vacationing season quickly approaches, you and your family may be preparing for some sort of travel. Some of you may be traveling a few hours, while some of you may be traveling across the country, but either way, you will be sleeping under a different roof and living out of a suitcase. In that suitcase you will likely find travel-sized soaps and shampoos, as well as the classic travel toothbrush. Luckily, the Parkcrest Dental blog is here to help your teeth make it back to home base alive and well.
Related Post: Dr. Steven Harrison: Traveling With Braces
How to Prepare for Traveling
The first thing that you can do is do some pre-travel dental care. In the days prior to your trip, focus on your teeth, making sure that you are brushing and flossing thoroughly. This doesn’t negate the attention your teeth should get while you are the road, but it does help to defray the effects of being out of the house.
Next, Parkcrest Dental suggests that you go the extra-mile in your packing. One reason why dental health is often neglected during travel is because we don’t want to pack all of our hygiene materials and/or forget to. We all grab the toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant, but often leave behind the floss and mouthwash. This is either due to not wanting to shove a huge bottle of mouthwash into your bag or because you simply forget about them. We suggest that you buy travel-sized everything, enabling you to have enough room to pack all that you need, as well as prompting you to remember to pack it all. It is even handy to keep a hygiene go-bag on-hand for whenever you do travel.
It is also important to buy the right materials. Another common temptation is to just buy whatever travel materials that are the cheapest or whichever ones you see first. This can be detrimental to your dental hygiene. For example, not buying the right type of travel toothbrush can cause bacteria build up. Your toothbrush needs air and if your toothbrush holder isn’t ventilated, the water will be trapped inside, leading to bacterial growth.
Related Post: Parkcrest Dental Group — Caring For Your Teeth When You Travel
How to Keep Your Teeth Healthy on the Road
Now that you have all the materials needed to keep up with your dental care over your trip, it’s time to talk about how to use those materials. One issue that Parkcrest Dental often sees with people who travel is that the change in schedule often leads to neglecting your teeth. What we mean is that when people get out of their normal, day-to-day rhythm, they are less likely to put in the same effort towards dental care than they normally would. Rather than brushing your teeth twice a day, flossing and using mouthwash, you are more likely to quickly brush your teeth once before bed and call it good.
It is important to maintain your dental habits throughout your trips, brushing your teeth multiple times for at least two minutes. It also would hurt to–ahem–not consume a ton of sugar. I’m not telling you to cut it off completely, but there are ways to curb your intake. One way is to not put sugar in your coffee or not drink soda to make up for the extra sugar intake.
Let Parkcrest Dental Take Care of Your Teeth
When you get back from your trip, you may want to just go ahead and get those pearly whites checked out by the professionals. Give Parkcrest Dental a call at 417-262-5515 or visit our website for more information.
