Tips From Our Children’s Dentistry Office for Healthy Snacking This Summer

In our children's dentistry office, we can help to keep your entire family in excellent oral health.  We suggest that you bring your kids into our office this summer for their biannual teeth cleaning.  This way we can help to prevent cavities from developing this summer.  In the meantime, it is important that you take this opportunity to help them to develop healthy habits.  While home from school, many kids head to the pantry to grab chips, candy, and anything else that tastes great but is not particularly good for them. Establishing a routine for healthy eating this summer will help your child to maintain good oral health while improving their health overall.

Here are some suggestions that you can try this summer –

• Keep single servings of cheese in the house.  You can buy string cheese or single servings of Cheddar and Colby Jack to keep in the refrigerator.  This way, when your kids get hungry, they can grab one for a healthy and easy snack.
• Buy nuts.  This is a snack that is high in protein, tastes great and will actually help to remineralize their teeth. As a children’s dentistry office, we recommend that you avoid the bags of trail mix and opt for plain nuts instead since these snacks can also contain chocolate which is bad for their teeth. 
• Crunchy veggies.  There are vegetables that are cool and refreshing while being easy to eat. We recommend that you by some cucumbers, carrots, and broccoli, and then slice them up to snack on with ranch dip.  You can even slice them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge so that they can grab the snack whenever hunger strikes.  
• Popsicles.  This time of year kids and adults are looking for ways to cool off and eating a popsicle, or an ice cream cone is an excellent way to do so. The challenge is that they can be high in sugar content.  We recommend that you purchase sugar-free popsicles to eat or freeze them at home so that you can keep the sugar content low.  This is important for their teeth.
• Fruit.  Buy watermelon, apples and berries to give them a yummy treat throughout the day.  In our children’s dentist office, we have found that watermelon is an excellent snack since you can slice it up and keep it in the fridge for days.  If they eat berries that are staining or any fruit that is acidic, be sure to have them rinse their mouth afterwards so that they can avoid any staining or damage. 

Giving them healthy snacks and brushing their teeth twice a day will help your child to stay in good oral health this summer. Additionally, remember to bring them to our children's dentistry office so that we can clean their teeth and keep them free from cavities and gum disease.  If necessary, we can also provide them with a fluoride treatment and dental sealants.