Plan Your Summer Vacation With These Dental Care Tips In Mind [BLOG]

As you plan your family vacation, you’re probably crossing off items from your packing checklist with excited anticipation. You’re thinking about all the interesting places you’ll see, new foods you’ll try, and experiences you’ll share with the people you love most.
What you’re probably not thinking about is your oral health. But our team at Oregon Smile Care Center wants to offer you a friendly reminder with our blog today. Take a few minutes to consider your dental care and how it might be impacted by your family trip.
Do you have a plan in place to make sure your family’s smiles stay healthy? It may not seem like a big deal now, but the fact is that when you’re away from home, it can be tempting to put dental care on the back burner despite the fact that being on vacation could interfere with healthy teeth and gums.
The goal in our Salem dental office is that our patients have the tools they need to keep their mouths healthy all year round no matter where life takes them. So today we’re sharing some helpful tips for putting a plan in place for a healthy mouth so you can enjoy your family vacation worry-free.

TIP #1: Prepare For A Dental Emergency

When you’re on vacation, you probably don’t give a second thought to what you would do in the event of a medical emergency. And you’re not alone. It’s just not something we need to worry about because, for the most part, no matter where you are in the country at any given time, you’re likely going to be within a few miles of a hospital emergency room.
The same can’t be said, however, for dental emergency services. If you’re sitting down to dinner in a restaurant with your family, for example, and you bite down the wrong way while eating your steak and you break a tooth, what would you do?
You’d want to try to save your tooth, of course, but where would you go to get the unique medical attention this would require? To save precious time in the event of a dental emergency, we suggest you do some online research before you leave for your trip and write down the contact information for dental emergency services in the area where you’ll be staying.
Seconds matter when it comes to oral injuries. So by planning ahead for a dental emergency, you increase your chances for saving a knocked out tooth.

TIP #2: Take Care Of Dental Work Weeks Before Your Trip

If you’re in need of any sort of restorative dental procedure, such as a dental filling for a cavity or maybe a root canal, make sure you get that out of the way well before your family vacation. The reason for this is so that you give yourself plenty of time to heal, first and foremost. You certainly don’t want to time your procedure in such a way to where you have a temporary crown, for example, while on your trip. If that crown were to fall out, break, or become loose, it’s only going to interrupt your vacation.
Another benefit to getting dental work out of the way in advance is that, should complications from a procedure arise during your recovery, you have enough time to contact your dentist and get the treatment you need to correct whatever the issue is.
Putting off dental procedures until after your trip could interfere with what should be a stress-free, relaxing time with family. If you have a toothache that’s giving you fits, you’re not going to be able to enjoy it.

TIP #3: Schedule A Dental Checkup Before You Leave

We’re fast approaching that middle point of the calendar year, which means it’s the perfect time to schedule the first of your recommended two yearly dental checkups if you haven’t already.
One of the reasons you want to make sure to take care of this before you go is that you want to address any dental problems before they become serious. Even if you don’t have any troubling symptoms at the moment, that’s not to say that while on your trip, an exposed nerve in your tooth root you hadn’t noticed before will get to the point where you’re suddenly in a lot of pain.
It’s not out of the ordinary for dental problems to sneak up on you out of nowhere, so letting Dr. Hanson and one of our skilled hygienists at the Oregon Smile Care Center give you a thorough dental cleaning and exam before you go can potentially cut problems off at the pass so they don’t cause trouble for you during your vacation.
Call Our Salem Dental Office For An Appointment TODAY!
We’re here and ready to help you and your family leave for your vacation with clean, healthy smiles so you can enjoy some much needed R & R!
Give Dr. Hanson a call today at (503) 809-4784 or fill out our online form to schedule your family’s pre-vacation checkup.