Dental Care for your Dog

I know, I know - a pet dental care blog posts but I figured it was kind of fitting...  Here's a good article about dental care for your dog I found on Hubpages written by eastcoastone.

Dog Dental Care And Dental Maintenance

Looking for a sure fire way to make your dog sick simply ignore it’s dental care. As in people, neglect in dental care may cause illness in other parts of the body.

Studies that began on the late 1990’s in people have shown that the same bacteria that causes, gingivitis, gum disease, and or simple tarter or calcium buildups. Can lead to heart disease and diabetes. In dogs oral bacteria enters the blood stream and ends up in the heart as a calcium buildup or hardening of the arteries.

While nothing beats a complete cleaning at the veterinarian, the $400.00 to $600.00 bill you will receive at the end of the procedure, will probably cause hardening off your arteries. As well and understandably many people are not comfortable having their pet go under anesthesia for a simple cleaning. I do recommend having your dogs teeth cleaned if it is already going under anesthesia for a different problem. This will highly reduce the cost of the cleaning, due to the fact that a majority of the cleaning cost is in the anesthesia. It only cost my dog an extra $190.00 to have her teeth cleaned on top of a procedure she was already having.
If the expense and the thought of your pet going under anesthesia is prohibitive to having a proper teeth cleaning done. There are alternatives to that will help you help your dog keep it’s teeth over a lifetime of home maintenance.

Brushing your dog’s teeth is the most obvious solution to the problem. As well it is the least expensive. A toothbrush will cost $2.00 or $3.00 dollars and toothpaste will cost about $5.00. Toothpaste for your dog will come in a variety of flavors from chicken for your dog’s enjoyment to peppermint for fresh breath for your enjoyment. Some toothpaste will include a toothbrush. Brushing if not daily at the very least this should be done twice a week. In my grooming shop we brush dogs teeth as part of a general grooming. It is not with a blind eye I say brush your dog’s teeth, I fully understand the battle this can become. Some dogs just plain try to eat the toothbrush; others try to eat the hand that is doing the brushing. Brushing your dog’s teeth is something that should be started gradually and made to be fun. There is nothing wrong with incorporating this into a game that ends in a treat.

In the past few years some products have come to the market in gel and spray forms. This form of dental care is much easier in application then brushing, but much more costly. A dental gel may cost anywhere from $25.00 to $50.00. As with daily brushing these products are highly effective. Personally I use Petzlife oral care in the gel form for my dogs. It does exactly what it claims to do, if the directions are followed. It helped reduce tarter stains and freshened breath. It is not a magic pill and does not work over night. You will notice results in about a month. Currently there are about dozen different gels and sprays that are applied directly to the gums of your pet. I have not used them all but, many reviews on these products seem to point in the same direction as the results I’ve had with Petzlife.

If $25.00 to $50.00 is an expense that is currently out of the budget, an array of dental rinses, are now on the market. Doctors Fosters and Smith online at www.drsfostersmith.com have a rinse I use in my shop if a dog’s breath is just too much to bear and brushing is not an option. It is on their Drs. Fosters and Smith label and is called Dental Cleanser. Easily applied with a sponge on a stick, it helps remove plaque-causing germs and comes in a peppermint flavor for fresh breath. Costs about $9.00.

The simplest of the dental care products are the dental washes that are added to your dog’s drinking water. While these are highly regarded and widely used, I do not use them. I personally don’t like to put additives in my dog’s drinking water. While this is proven to be a safe way to help clean your dog’s teeth, I personally have a problem adding things to water. These run about $8.00.

Age and condition of your dog’s teeth may be a factor in what you can apply to your dog’s teeth. Many dogs of an advanced age already have gum disease. In many of these situations the dog’s teeth may already be loose and just about staying in the gum. Brushing at this point may cause more harm then good. When faced with a problem like this your best bet is a simple the gel, spray or rinse. If price is a factor, the simple act of buying dog toothpaste and rubbing it on the gums daily. Will help slow down the decaying process. If price is a factor, just rubbing toothpaste on your dog’s gums daily, is better then doing nothing at all.

As with anything you are adding to your dog’s routine that includes ingesting something other then a food product, do you homework. Look for side effects. If you are completely unsure, call your veterinarian