Plan Out Your Family's Dental Schedule

Set Up a Family Dental Exam Schedule

When you schedule exams far in the future, you benefit from your forward-thinking. For one thing, the schedule is wide open! You’ll be able to visit whenever is most convenient for you. For another, you’ll have the exams in place before life starting getting overwhelming, so you won’t find yourself ending up without enough time for preventive care. And with the open schedule blocks, it will be easy to schedule your family members’ exams alongside one another, making care possible with just one trip to the office.

How often should you visit? The ADA recommends that most patients visit every six months. If you fall into higher-risk categories for periodontitis or cavities, Dr. Kim may want you to get checked out more often. This includes patients with a history of gum disease, patients who use tobacco, diabetics, and pregnant women. With more frequent exams, any problems will be caught right away before they’re able to develop into serious concerns.

Embrace Healthy Eating

Packing school lunches takes a little extra time, but makes sure your kids get a good variety of nutrients (and avoid overloading on sugar) every day

When things get busy, careful grocery shopping and meal planning tend to go out the window. But if you keep a few core tenets in mind, you’ll find it easy to stay on the right track:

• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables – Fresh produce acts as a natural toothbrush, with the structures scrubbing away bacteria and cleansing your mouth. They also stimulate saliva production to help return your mouth to a normal state after eating/drinking.

• Choose unsweetened products – Pre-packaged foods tend to have a lot of added sugar – it always helps boost the taste, and make the product more popular. Try to go for fresh options instead to avoid these additional sweeteners. If you’re in the habit of having flavored yogurt or granola bars, find healthy alternatives that have less of the sweet stuff.

• Pack your kids’ lunches (and your own!) – No matter your age, you benefit from having a home-packed lunch instead of eating out or grabbing a prepackaged meal. You’ll not only save money, but also give your teeth more of the good stuff (like well-rounded, nutritious foods).

• Avoid sweet or acidic drinks – Think about how often you sip on a drink each day. Every time that liquid enters your mouth, it washes over your teeth. If it’s sweet or acidic, this hastens decay. Try choosing unsweetened iced tea, seltzer water, or just plain water instead of soda or juice.