Summer Dental Health Tips

With the kick off to summer upon us, we need to remember that summertime can bring with it extra risks. People are often more active, travelling on vacation, drinking or eating foods that are popular summertime treats. So here are a few tips to help you breeze through the season!

Drink Plenty of Water and Avoid Sugary Drinks

Staying hydrated is vitally important for your overall health year round, but during the hot summer months our bodies can become dehydrated quickly! Be sure to keep those water bottles on hand and drink regularly. Be sure to avoid consuming drinks with high sugar and acidic content such as sports drinks or fruit juices which increase the chance of dental decay and enamel erosion.

Protect Your Lips

When heading outdoors, we have all become so great with applying the sunscreen to protect our bodies and face from the sun’s harmful rays, but we often forget about our lips. The skin on our lips is very thin and vulnerable due to the lack of melanin, protecting our lips with an SPF lip balm is essential! Prolonged exposure to the sun could lead to forms of oral cancer.

Avoid Chewing Ice

With the hot weather, it’s tempting to pop that ice cube into our mouth to cool us down, but chewing ice wreaks havoc on your tooth enamel and dental work It can also cause your teeth to crack or break. You may not feel or see the damage at first, but you’ll feel the pain in your mouth and wallet later. If you have cravings to chew ice, be sure to check with your doctor as that can be a sign of iron deficiency anemia.

Be Cautious of Sporting Injuries

Sporting injuries happen frequently enough, although they tend to be more prevalent during the warm weather months. Lost or cracked teeth when diving into swimming pools or the impact of a ball or bat to the mouth are common accidents that unfortunately happen and there is not much you can to do prevent them. Simply being aware of the potential dangers will perhaps make you think twice when taking part in activities.

It’s good to know that Petaluma Dental Group is available 24 hours a day in case of emergency!

Happy Summer!