School supplies, checked. New clothes and shoes, checked. But have your checked your child’s health? Sure, you may have gotten the immunizations and the routine physical. Cheers for that. What about that dental check and eye exam? Houston Style Magazine spoke with some top docs about the necessary exams and preventative measures parents can take to ensure their child has a successful and healthy school year.

General Health

Each state has their own list of required vaccinations for school age children that is determined by the state legislature and enforced by the Texas Department of State Health Services with the Texas Education Agency. Currently, Texas requires students to have seven vaccinations which include Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis; Polio; Measles, Mumps, and Rubella; Hepatitis B; Varicella; Meningococcal; and Hepatitis A. Beyond these vaccinations, how else can you protect your child’s health? Dr. Amber Johnson Robinett, pediatrician at Texas Children’s Pediatric Associates, tells us more ways to keep your child healthy.

One of the most important preventative measures against viruses and illnesses is to build up your child’s immune system. Vaccines do that. “We give vaccines to build the immune system but then just over the years being around sick kids that also builds up their immune system by forming the antibodies to various illnesses. “

However, there are still some things parents can do to help with their child’s overall health. It’s the things that we have heard a million times and know but have a hard time putting into practice. Dr. Robinett stressed the importance for parents to make sure their child is drinking lots of water, eating well-balanced meals, taking vitamins, and living an overall healthy lifestyle for optimal health.

Another tip Dr. Robinett dropped is to teach your child basic hygiene like good hand washing and coughing into their elbow. Coughing on one another and touching surfaces of someone who is sick are the main reason kids have to come see Dr. Robinett. She said her office is flooded with sick kids at the beginning of the school year suffering from a virus or strep throat due to lack of following the hygiene basics.

So, parents get your child vaccinated, loaded them up with vitamins and good food, and teach them to wash their hands often.

Eye Health

A child should have a health check up annually from the age of three on up. In addition to that medical check, their eyes should be checked on the same scale.

“Usually every year is what we suggest but some people depending on insurance can’t come in every year. But for a child, especially one who actually wears a pair of glasses or found the need for some sort of prescription, every year is pretty important,” said Dr. Roosevelt Gloyd, optometrist at the Berkeley Eye Center.

Children come to Dr. Gloyd for annual eye exams around the age of five years old if they don’t have a history of eye problems. Of course, if they do have vision problems children would see him at a much younger age. It is extremely important for children to have that first eye exam at an early age to prevent eye problems like amblyopia. Dr. Gloyd explained that amblyopia is an eye problem where one of the two eyes is not correctable to 20/20. “One eye sees normal with a pair of glasses or even without sometimes and the other eye, no matter how much prescription you put in front of it, doesn’t actually clear to 20/20. That is something that happens for most kids because they don’t have an exam early enough,” said Dr. Gloyd. Kids with amblyopia may not have had their first eye exam until they were eight years old or even into their preteen years when the problem could have been caught early and corrected with a pair of glasses, but lack of proper eye care means their vision doesn’t develop normally. “So they are not blind by any means, but they don’t see as well as the people that are around them,” said Dr. Gloyd.

Outside the typically eye exam, kids come to Dr. Gloyd for various eye injuries that usually result from playing sports without wearing the proper eye gear. Laughing Dr. Gloyd recalls the hideous protective eyewear kids his age had to wear when he was growing up. “When I was a kid if you had sports goggles it was like a death sentence. It was bad.” He continued, “But now they have sports goggles that look like sunglasses and they look good so kids don’t mind wearing them. “

Parents need to also know that allergies can affect a child’s eye health. “Itchy eyes, a kid always rubbing their eyes, or their eyes being kind of red is not just something to kind of shake off. It might actually be something that can be helped with something as simple as an eye drop to knock out some of the symptoms of allergies,” cautioned Dr. Gloyd. “And outside of that you have to worried about kids in school getting stuff like pink eye, conjunctivitis, that kind of thing can be an issue as well. Having an eye doctor to take care of things is a good idea with that yearly exam sets up a good foundation. “

Dental Health

It is said the best accessory to an outfit is your smile. Make sure your child starts the school year off looking good from head-to-toe including a gorgeous set of pearly whites. Dr. Deanna Davis-Rolle of Smile Village Dental Care is the perfect doc to ensure that teeth are white, strong, and free of cavities when following her sound advice.

Unlike the previous doctors’ recommendation of children getting check ups once a year, a child should see their dentist twice a year for teeth cleaning. And those dental visits can start as early as one-year-old. Before you think, kids barely have teeth yet, those early visits just set up the framework for proper dental care. Dr. Davis-Rolle said that in routine dental exams she is looking to see if your child has any cavities, examining the growth and development of teeth, and looking for any signs of oral disease in tissues. “Sometimes parents may feel they need to wait until all of their child’s baby teeth are out before they see the orthodontist but it is important that we’re keeping an eye on that because there are times when there is pretreatment that is needed to assist with growth and development,” she said.

As children grow and get more independent they are going to want to brush their teeth by themselves. Dr. Davis-Rolle suggests waiting until the child is six or seven years of age when they have a little more dexterity. Parents can teach them how to focus on their front and back teeth as well as their tongue when brushing. So while your child may brush their teeth own their own, they will still need parents’ help when it comes to flossing.

Just like in school, having the proper tools produces the best outcomes. The proper tool in dental care is having the right toothbrush. Dr. Davis-Rolle often recommends Sonicare’s kids toothbrush because it plays music to let kids know how long to brush their teeth, which is usually two minutes.

As children get more involved in school activities like sports, another alarm goes up for Dr. Davis-Rolle since kids tend to gravitate towards sports drinks like Gatorade that have a high sugar content. Ingesting too much of these types of drinks can lead to children having tooth decay. She talks with parents about substituting with water or electrolyte water. While on the topic of sports, Dr. Davis-Rolle begs parents to make sure their child is wearing the proper mouth guard while playing sports. “I see a lot of tooth fractures, front teeth fracturing, front teeth being knocked out. So it is really important to know that if the kid is participating in any type of sport that things happen.” She continued, “It may not be football but basketball, baseball. Make sure that they are wearing some type of athletic mouthpiece that is made for them to help protect their teeth.”

Parents now check everything off your list because your child is now officially ready to go back-to-school.