How to Maintain Your Kids’ Oral Health During the Winter Holidays

Here are some things you can do to help your little ones avoid cavities and keep their teeth as healthy as always.

The holidays are a great time to unwind, eat good food, and enjoy spending time with your family. The best and simplest way to bond with loved ones is to gather around the table and enjoy a delicious home-cooked dinner. Most of us will prepare festive dishes for these feasts, and sweets are hard to avoid during Christmas. But, the last thing you want for the holidays is for your kids to get cavities from eating too many sugary things.

Here are some things you can do to help your little ones avoid cavities and keep their teeth as healthy as always.

Find Healthy Alternatives for Christmas Sweets

We know that Christmas is all about family traditions, and it often involves preparing sweets that you won’t serve for the rest of the year. However, you can offer the little ones healthier alternatives to the traditional recipes you are preparing. Include more fruit in the sweets you are baking, avoid processed foods, and stay away from caramel, chocolate sauces, toffees, and other super sticky, sugary ingredients that can linger in your child’s mouth.

Don’t Offer Sweets Throughout the Day

It’s tempting to let your kids break the rules during Christmas since you are all enjoying free time together, but it’s healthier to offer them sweets only once a day than giving them in small portions throughout the day. Of course, avoiding a sugar rush is also important, but small portions offered many times a day is not healthy for your kid’s teeth. Limit them after lunch only, for example.

Give Your Children Water During Every Meal and Snack

Avoiding juice and offering water instead is also very important to keep plaque to a minimum. Encourage your kids to rinse their mouths with water after every meal or snack, and give them juice as you would give any other sweet food – with limitations.

Monitor Their Brushing Closely

Brushing at least two times a day should not be negotiable, even during the holidays. Your kids might try to get a free pass just because it’s Christmas, but that can easily lead to cavities. Monitor their brushing and make sure they get rid of the plaque after every meal they have.

Schedule a Professional Cleaning after Christmas

To make sure your kids won’t get cavities during the Christmas holidays, schedule a professional cleaning with their St. Louis pediatric dentist when the holidays are over. No matter how well they brushed their teeth during this time, it won’t replace a good cleaning done in the dentist’s office.