Just three more days until Christmas arrives. Many families are already enjoying annual traditions that coincide with the special event. Elf on a shelf is in full swing via Facebook and Instagram. Christmas movies and music are echoing across the country. Decorated trees and homes are aglow. Sweets are abounding, threatening the livelihood of you and your children’s teeth. Believe it or not, there are some ways to counteract that last one, mostly with a preventative initiative. We have three great ideas to help you work tooth care into your traditions so your teeth have a happy holiday too.
Add a Step to Your Christmas Eve Routine
The concept of new pajamas on Christmas Eve, often accompanied with snacks or popcorn and a new Christmas movie (or that old favorite!) has become a regular thing for many American families. Throwing in brand new toothbrush, floss, or mouthwash and making it an exciting event to receive and use something new after the movie will get everyone excited to crowd the bathroom. Plus, you have a ton of fun options, from brushes that have a music or sound or light timer to ones that come with stickers they can decorate themselves. This gives brushing a positive spotlight and can help you encourage them to brush their teeth better throughout the upcoming year.
Stuff Stockings with Dental Items
There are so many wonderful family specialties when it comes to filling the Christmas stocking. I’ve heard of oranges or apples in the toe that must be eaten before any of the candy in it (another great idea to protect oral health!), a potato as a gag gift, and more. This is a prime opportunity to offer super-fun or funny dental items. Fun floss and gum flavors like bacon, cupcake, and waffle can get Christmas morning all a-giggle and make them eager to try them out.
Collaborate with Santa
I wouldn’t call this idea sneaky per say, but if you don’t have the enormous mall Santa set up like in A Christmas Story and can get to Santa before your kids do, see if you can get Santa on your side. Ask him to remind your kiddos that brushing and flossing is one way to get on the nice list. This is part of that whole “anyone-else-can-tell-them-and-they’ll-listen” game parents often play. If your child is especially against brushing for one reason or another, then this might be just the way to change their minds. Santa holds a special place in most children’s hearts and has quite a bit of influence. With a little encouragement from the man in the red suit, tooth time struggles might just lighten up each morning and evening.
Use Dental Floss as Ribbon or the Box as a Gift Tag
One year, a friend told me about how he wanted an oral irrigator for Christmas. His wife managed to use dental floss to wrap around the gift and tie it into a bow with the box dangling. She’d also written his name on the box as a tag. They laugh about it still, and I always remember how that was such a fun idea. Depending on what the gift is, you might also be able to attach a new toothbrush, bottle of mouthwash, or a pack of sugarless gum onto a few of your packages. Some brands even have festive packaging that will blend right in.
Dental Care Gift Baskets
This idea has a few ways it manifests. Firstly, if you’re involved in charities or school fundraising events that have auctions, a dental care basket with travel sized (or full sized!) items or muli-packs you can get at Costco or Sam’s Club are a wonderful idea. With the rise in insurance costs, people are becoming more aware of the cost of dental care and everyday dental items. This sort of basket will probably get some decent bids and help a family stock up for the New Year.
Another way dental care items can get into goodie baskets are with homemade and packaged baked good baskets. My mom is a big baker, so every year each family in our extended clan gets a bunch of goodies as well as cocoa mix, fudge, and candies or other fun little items she finds. She also puts floss, sugarless gum, or floss in the baskets. It was funny to me because I thought the items were opposite to the sugary baked goods, but later in life I realized it was her caring about everyone and making sure their teeth were taken care of. This is a great example of that holiday spirit of caring and consideration that we’ve all come to love this time of year.
Lastly, dental care items are especially needed for the homeless and needy. Creating little care packages that include these items and handing them out when you see a need is a great way to give those with little hope a way to care for themselves and stay healthy. Most of the food they get for free is processed and will eventually breakdown into sugars in the oral cavity, so they are more prone to oral problems such as cavities and gingivitis. Giving them what they need to keep their mouth clean might just save them problems later on and can keep them in better condition than they would have been otherwise.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
We hope that these ideas get your imagination flowing as far as ways to make sure your family’s and others teeth stay healthy this holiday season. Of course, just making sure to brush twice and floss once daily will help. But if you can find a way to make it more fun and less of a chore, there’s a great chance that their oral care will improve and become a habit for life.
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