With summer vacation here for most kids in Houston and Katy, you don’t want your child’s plans for fun and relaxation to be spoiled by tooth problems. If you don’t take measures to protect his or her teeth and keep them clean, your child’s teeth may run a risk of incurring permanent damage and forming cavities.

If you live at or near West Houston, be sure to bring your child to a Katy pediatric dentist for a dental checkup at least twice a year. Even if your child hasn’t developed a cavity that needs to be filled back up with a dental filling, one checkup every six months goes a long way toward making sure that he or she isn’t on the road to forming a new cavity or a similar tooth disease. However, there are at least three other methods you can pursue in between checkups to keep your kid’s teeth even cleaner and less likely to run into problems over this summer season.

First, be sure that your child is always brushing every morning and evening regardless of whether or not he or she is staying over at a place away from your home during the upcoming summer season. Don’t let your child count their newfound free time away from school as precedent for putting on hold their responsibilities to maintain their own oral health. Even if your child’s summertime activities might make them come home much later in the night than usual, you should still have them brush and floss their teeth before going to bed regardless.

Second, try to get your child to enjoy eating fructose-based snacks like apples and yogurt instead of snacks made out of processed sugar like candy and ice cream. Fructose is a lot less damaging to teeth than sugar, and yet natural fruits like cherries can taste about as satisfyingly sweet when prepared as a snack. Meanwhile, try to get your child to drink less sugar-packed soda and more water; keeping your child hydrated with water is especially important if he or she is going to camp or playing in outdoor sporting activities for the summer. Just like the comparison between fruit-based snacks and candy, water that has been flavored with fruit can also be a very sweet-tasting drink – but with the advantage that it is much more tooth-friendly in comparison to a soda drink.

Finally, be wary of the chance that your child can knock out a tooth through an accident during a summertime activity such as slipping while swimming at a pool. Furthermore, your child’s teeth can potentially be knocked out by other children while playing summer sports. To minimize accidents and painful impacts to your child’s mouth, always be sure that you have arranged for either yourself or another adult to be on hand to supervise what your child does, and always make sure that your kid is adhering to safety rules and wearing proper protective headgear such as a caged helmet and a mouth guard. Otherwise, you may have to bring your child to your local Houston pediatric dentist in order to treat a tooth injury that could have been avoided.

Greater Houston Pediatric Dentistry is located in West Houston and Katy, Texas. Our board-certified dentists specialize in treating children in a fun, safe and learning environment.  We invite you to make an appointment for your child’s dental needs online or by calling: (832) 437-1110