Brush Up On The Best Back To School Routine

Heading back to school in the fall means stocking up on all of the supplies your child will need for another great year. Your child may have the latest wardrobe, school supplies and sports equipment for the new school year, but does he or she have a healthy mouth and the tools needed to maintain it? While purchasing pencils and notebooks, do not forget one of the most important items on your child's back to school checklist: a dental checkup. Back to school health is a great predictor of your child's success in a new school year, as being proactive can prevent any absences caused by emergency appointments.

According to the American Dental Association, a dental examination is as important as immunizations and booster shots and should be a regular part of back-to-school preparations. Accidents can happen whether your child is in sports camp, gym class or just walking down the street. In case of emergency, make sure your child’s teachers and coaches have all the medical contact information they need including your dentist’s number.

Regular dental visits are important year-round, but a back-to-school checkup is key in fighting the most common chronic disease found in school-age children: cavities. In fact, dental disease causes children to miss more than 51 million school hours each year. Sadly, stats show just under one in three, 31% of children start their school lives with tooth decay. This is appalling because every single case of tooth decay is completely avoidable. The good news is that by educating children properly from an early age, we can help to keep their teeth top of the class. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that tooth decay affects U.S. children more than any other chronic infectious disease and 19 percent of children ages 2 to 19 years old have untreated tooth decay. Dental pain or disease can lead to difficulty in eating, speaking, playing and learning as well as millions of hours of missed school. A third of children miss school because of oral health problems, according to Surveys on children’s oral health. You can expect the dentist to offer X-rays and do a thorough exam, looking for potential issues such as decay, weakened enamel, and cavities that need to be addressed before school starts. Your dentist may also make recommendations about wisdom teeth removal for your teen, as wisdom teeth usually erupt between the ages of 17 and 21. How often your child should have a checkup varies based on the dentist's preference and the child's health.

One more item on the back to school health checklist is a thorough audit of your child's current oral hygiene routine. After a summer of late nights and loose schedules, your child's routine may have been disrupted, resulting in less-than-ideal conditions for oral health. Pick up Fairywill dental care tools when you're shopping for notebooks, binders and pencils. If it's hard to remember when to change a brush head, you could try to change it every time report cards come out. Ask your dentist for a recommendation on how often to change toothbrush heads. Fairywill has the best brushes: they are small-to-medium-sized toothbrushes with soft-to-medium bristles. This is the perfect size for your child’s mouth. When going over your child's back to school routine, make sure that brushing twice daily for at least two minutes with Fairywill's smart timers and water flossers makes the list. You may even want to observe your child while brushing to make sure his or her technique will effectively eliminate the plaque and germs that can collect on teeth.

Educating them on a sound diet is important too. Get your kids to pack their own healthy lunch and snacks for school. Include portable healthy lunch items and snacks in your child's sack lunch, including grains raw vegetables and fruit. Avoid sugary foods and drinks and instead opt for breadsticks, and vegetables. Swap out lunchbox no-no’s with healthy alternatives. Instead of chips or crackers, try nuts. Salty snacks may seem healthy because they do not contain sugar, but simple starches can be just as bad. These snacks break down into a sticky goo, coating teeth and promoting decay. Avoid candies and granola bars, offering crunchy snacks like celery sticks, and baby carrots. Try to teach your children on the best healthy drinks to have in their lunch-boxes, such as water, but If they do have sugary drinks, teach them to use a straw when drinking to keep most of the sugar off of the teeth. If you do this your kids get, a better idea of what is healthy and what is not, helping not only their oral health but also overall health.

Kick the year off to a healthy start by making sure dental hygiene is at the top of the list for back to school with Fairywill. The best kind of checkup is a cavity-free checkup. So by taking the time to schedule appointments and stock up on new oral hygiene products, your child can head back to school with an organized backpack and a healthy smile. Fairywill would like to help with prevention and early detection to help avoid pain, trouble eating, difficulty speaking and school absences.