Maintaining Oral Hygiene While Traveling

We all know that traveling can expand our horizons and provide lifelong memories. But it’s also usually pretty exhausting and can coax us away from our typical daily self care routines. It’s normal to let a few things slip while on vacation; but in this guide, we’ll give you some tips on how to stay on top of your oral hygiene while you’re traveling, so you can return home with the same bright smile you left with. 

Stay Hydrated

Saliva is one of our most powerful tools for excellent oral hygiene; but it’s also one of the first areas affected by dehydration. When you’re hydrated, your saliva helps wash away food particles and bacteria from your teeth. If a dry mouth prevents saliva from doing its job, more food particles and bacteria will be able to sit on your teeth — potentially wearing through the protective enamel layer. Over a prolonged period, this can lead to tooth decay and cavities. 

When you’re on the go, it can be easy to overlook normal hydration. Other traveling activities like flying tend to also be very dehydrating. Thankfully, the solution to this is relatively simple: drink plenty of water. Not every location you travel to has safe tap water, so be sure to do your research ahead of time to determine whether you can drink from the tap or if you’ll need to stock up on bottled water. 

Many people avoid bottled water due to environmental concerns; but there are many recyclable options like boxed or glass bottles of water, so you won’t have to compromise your values to stay hydrated on vacation. 

Pack Hygienically

Often, when we pack our cosmetics and toiletries we throw everything together in one big container. But it’s important to consider how we store our toothbrush. After all, most people aren’t dutifully cleaning every nook and cranny of their toiletries bags; but anywhere you’re placing your toothbrush should be completely hygienic. 

If you don’t want to frequently sterilize your toiletries bag, you can buy your toothbrush its own hygienic container. Just be sure that you find an option that lets in some air, so your toothbrush can dry after each use. If the container is completely sealed, the wet toothbrush could begin to grow bacteria. If you can, dry your toothbrush prior to storing it, but in a pinch you can just let it dry in an aerated container. 

Avoid Overpacking

We’ve all been there: you’re packing your suitcase and suddenly remember life is full of endless possibilities and you feel you must pack as though each of these possibilities will somehow happen simultaneously during your vacation. As important as it is to be prepared and pack layers and clothing safe for many climates, it’s also best practice to avoid overpacking.

What do we mean by overpacking? Well, if you can’t find what you need in your suitcase or toiletries bag, it may as well not even be there, right? Ironically, sometimes packing everything we think we need inhibits us from finding what we need when we need it. It’s important you keep up with your standard oral hygiene routine while traveling, but are you likely to actually floss every day if it takes a full two minutes to fish your floss out of your bag? 

By keeping your bag to just the essentials, you’re helping yourself efficiently locate everything you need — increasing your chances of actually completing your daily oral care routine.

Conclusion

If you drink lots of water, keep bacteria away from where it doesn’t belong, and pack with a strong sense of realism, we’re confident you’ll be able to keep your daily oral hygiene practice going while you’re on vacation. The best part? None of these tips add time to your daily routine, so you won’t be sacrificing precious minutes that could otherwise be spent sightseeing.