Tick Be-Gone
Just when you think you have your summer routine together there’s suddenly one more, decidedly unpleasant item to add to the list: the tick check. And you really should keep the routine there until fall’s freeze, when ticks stop biting. Don’t forget to check the dogs — or the horses — either.
This July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Northeastern counties with “high incidence” of Lyme had increased by more than 320 percent from 1993 to 2012. The C.D.C. estimated in 2013 that the number of Americans with a diagnosis of Lyme disease annually is about 300,000. (That’s a lot of people!)
To help you and your family be safe, DentalSave is sharing some tick checking tips, and how you can make it a part of your summer routine.
- Daily Shower: No matter what, shower every night! If you feel something like sand or grit, dry it and go through it again and again. Remember what your skin feels like after a nice body scrub? Go fo it!
- Moisturize: After your shower, moisturize using geranium oil or lemon grass based body balms. (These are reportedly tick repellants.)
- Use Fresh clean linens: Use white bed linens to increase the visibility of ticks. Also, remove the bed skirt if you have one – ticks use them to get into your bed.
