Summer! It makes us all think of our favorite treats; lemonade, fresh fruit, ice cream, and cook outs with sweet corn on the cob. While all of these treats bring a smile to your face, they can be a bit hard on your smile. Staying up late at family get together can make it hard to remember that evening 2 minutes of brushing, and it’s awfully tempting to reach for sweet tea or icy lemonade to hydrate instead of water, but just because the seasons change doesn’t mean your oral hygiene should suffer.
While you’re enjoying your favorite outdoor activities try to keep hydrated with water, instead of sugary drinks, or acidic drinks like lemonade. If you do enjoy a lemonade or a soda (who doesn’t?) try following it with water to help rinse the sugar away if you can’t brush immediately. Especially after you brush for the evening always reach for water if you feel thirsty. As tempting as it can be to crunch on ice on a hot summer day, it can cause damage to your teeth and is not advisable. Try sticking to sipping on ice water.
Summer brings a bounty of sweet, vine or tree ripened fruit. After you snack on all the lovely fruit, it’s a good idea to brush your teeth to remove the extra sugar that can linger and lead to bacterial growth. Each brushing session (even an ‘extra’ one) should last 2 minutes.
Hosting a cookout or packing a picnic? Be sure to provide some floss, or handy floss picks, to clear those pesky corn bits from between teeth. Speaking of flossing, don’t let go of your nightly brushing and flossing routine. Consider moving it up in the evening if you plan on staying up late. Brushing and flossing right after desert, especially if dessert is a nice ice cream cone or sundae, is a good way to be sure you don’t forget before bed time, and it’s also a good way to curb nighttime snacking. When you are continually snacking your saliva doesn’t have a chance to do it’s natural job of rinsing the sugars and acids that cause decay away from your teeth.
At Clark Family Dental we recommend taking good care of your smile all year, and we’re always here to help. Summer is a great time to schedule an appointment for an exam and cleaning. Starting the summer with a spic and span smile is a great way to kick off the celebrations!
