Taking care of your smile doesn’t stop when you’re on vacation. One of the best things about going on a trip is that we are pulled from our daily routines. However, taking proper care of your braces and teeth should never be pushed to the side – regardless of the season. Like other great accomplishments, a straight smile doesn’t appear overnight. It involves consistently brushing and flossing your teeth and making good decisions on which foods to eat while wearing braces. Before packing your bags, we suggest keeping the following tips in mind to ensure your treatment stays on track during vacation.
Pack a travel kit
Vacation shouldn’t come with a rigid schedule. But for those with braces, it should come with travel kit. Having a few cleaning tools, extra wax and floss can ensure that your teeth stay clean and free of leftover food particles without forcing you to run back to your hotel or home every few hours. A few things to include in your portable cleaning kit are:
- A set of proxaburshes
- Floss
- Extra orthodontic wax
- A soft-headed toothbrush
- Mini-tube of toothpaste
- Extra rubber bands
- Lip balm
A braces travel kit keeps your smile looking sharp while you’re on the go and doesn’t take up too much room in your backpack or bag.
Stay hydrated
Drinking water is good for a number of reasons, with the most important one being – it keeps you hydrated. Often times, patients with braces can experience dry mouth, which can lead to bad breath and even plaque build-up. To combat that, we suggest keeping a water bottle with you at all times during vacation to make sure you never run out of your body’s most important necessity. Also, the more you drink water, the more you’ll want to stay away from sugary sports drinks and soft drinks, both of which can also cause plaque build-up and bad breath.
Eat the right foods
While all food may sound good, not every snack is good for your smile. Staying away from tough-to-chew foods and sugary substances can prevent your brackets from busting and plaque from building up in-between your wires. A few foods to avoid include:
- Tough-to-chew meat
- Hard candies
- Caramels or taffy
- Nuts
- Popcorn
If you’re curious about other foods to keep off your grocery list this summer, we’ve written a post about that here. You deserve the smile you’ve always wanted. At Birmingham Orthodontics, we’re here to make that happen starting with a conversation during your free consultation. The only catch is, you have to smile at all of our jokes.
Where Do We Go From Here…
Summer vacation is meant to extract your mind from everyday responsibilities. Even though you should have fewer everyday tasks to focus during vacation, your smile should remain top of mind. We’re here to make sure you get the best results possible by providing tips on how to properly care for your smile throughout treatment. And if any questions should pop up, we’re just a phone call away.
At Birmingham Orthodontics, our mission is simple: we create smiles. Not only do we straighten the crooked grin, fix the bite, and adjust the jaw, we brighten yearbooks, and instill confidence. We also believe in our staff. Our culture of continuous learning drives us to host monthly training sessions for each team and bring in leading industry consultants to help keep us ahead of the curve. Contact us for a free consultation, or with any questions you might have.
