Packing List: Your Ultimate Dental Travel Kit
Extended breaks from work, and occasionally life, are much needed and very exciting, but we can sometimes fail to adequately maintain our oral health while we’re on vacation. It happens. We get it.
Luckily, there’s an easy and effective way to keep up with brushing your teeth even while you’re away from home: build your very own dental travel kit!
With something so simple you can help your family keep their teeth healthy while traveling this summer – and all year round. Check out our tips on how to make the ultimate dental travel kit:
Travel case and toothbrush
Great oral health begins with the most basic tooth care tool: the toothbrush. When buying a toothbrush for traveling, look for one that has the ADA seal of approval and buy one that has round, soft brush head. Make sure you and your family brush two times each day for two minutes each time.
Need a space saver? Try a toothbrush that folds in half and fits into a travel case. Also, snag a traveling electric toothbrush for the whole family where all you need is a different toothbrush head for each member of your family. Win/win.
Toothpaste
You can’t brush your teeth without toothpaste, so be sure to pack toothpaste for your travels. Find a small, travel-sized tube of toothpaste that will last for the length of the trip. If you have young children, avoid buying whitening toothpaste for them as whitening toothpaste can contain harmful abrasives that can be too strong for kids. And, don’t forget to look for the ADA seal of approval on the toothpaste you choose as well.
Floss
Brushing only cleans about a third of the total surface area of teeth, which means most of your teeth are left unclean unless you floss after brushing. Make sure you floss once per day and clean between every space in your teeth. Floss picks are a great way to encourage regular flossing while traveling. It allows you to clean between teeth – even if you find yourself camping and without access to a mirror.
Tongue scraper
Tongue scrapers are great tools to help you get rid of bad breath. Sure – this may not make the “essentials only” kit – but we recommend it, especially if your travels take you to some of the best coffee-based regions in the world. We see you, Jamaica. Hawaii? Here we come.
Tools for braces or other oral appliances
If you or anyone in your family has braces or other oral appliances, there are a couple of tools that are great for cleaning teeth:
A proxabrush is a tool designed to help those with oral appliances clean their teeth. With a cone-shaped head made of fine bristles, a proxabrush comes with 3-4 replacement heads so that users are guaranteed to find the right fit for their mouth. The head can easily clean between teeth and behind brackets, so a proxabrush is great for removing debris in braces.
Floss threaders are great for those with oral appliances. Braces and other devices make it extremely difficult to adequately floss, but floss threaders provide a way to floss behind brackets and in-between teeth.
It’s easy to get caught up in the thrill of a vacation but keeping up with your oral care routine shouldn’t be put on the backburner. Besides, who doesn’t like an excuse to start packing for a vacation now?
