Teeth Cleaning
How often should we take Midas into the vet to get his teeth cleaned? How many of you do this already?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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We haven't taken Finn to have his teeth cleaned and hadn't really planned on doing so. We wouls like to keep his teeth clean with chews and brushing at home unless a proffesional cleaning becomes necessary. Do you brush his teeth yourselves? We're still trying to get the hang of it. Finn's not to keen on having the toothbrush is his mouth. :)
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Permalink Reply by Marion and Vern on
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Dental health is very important. Between six months and one year of age a dental examination by your vet is a good idea to be sure that any permanent teeth have not come through incorrectly and corrections can be made if needed. It is important to begin a brushing routine at home using dental care products made for dogs--not humane toothpaste. Safe edible chews and durable nylon chews should be part of home dental care. The vast majority of dogs 3 to fours years old and older has diseases of the gums from lack of dental attention. Another source states that by the age of 6 years old 85% of dogs have periodontal disease. But the good news is with proper dental care, including regular brushing most problems can be prevented.
Periodontal problems are more than cosmetic, along with bad breath and tooth loss, dental disease can lead to disorders of the heart, kidneys and liver.
The best time is to start when they are pups, get them used to you messing around with their mouths--we are doing that now with Sami. Then our next step is to introduce her to her toothbrush--found one (very small) at our vets it is actually for cats but we are not going to tell Sami that part, will also introduce her to her flavored toothpaste. Just a little on my finger and go over her teeth with it. When she is spayed between 5 to 6 months old we will have her first cleaning done then. As they have to sedate them to clean their teeth. I'm still trying to figure out how often to brush her teeth. Ugh, I am leaning towards once a day just to keep on top of it. Or at the least 3 times a week. Check with your vet on how often, ours even showed us how to go about it. Have also read somewhere that good dental hygiene can add any where from 2 to 4 years to your dogs life with a plus like that it seems worth it to me. Hope this helps you out.
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Glad you mentioned the part about having your vet check to make sure all the baby teath are out. That is important. Finn was just neutered so the vet checked and luckily his were all out otherwise they would need to be pulled. From what I have read, brushing 2-3 times a week is enough. Finn has a mint tooth paste for dogs and he loves it, but hates the toohtbrush. :) Did your vet give you tips on keeping there mouth open that you might share with us?
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Permalink Reply by Ross on
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We've found that brushing about every 5 days or so has been just fine. But then again our dogs are also big chewers, and we have this big nylabone thing (http://www.nylabone.com/products/non-edible/double-action/double-ac...) that helps keep their teeth clean as the ends started to get this bristly like texture as they chew it. We just had them at the vet about a month ago and she commented on how unbelievably clean their teeth are. The best gauge to see how well you is that big molar in the back with the crease in it, it tends to build up plaque the fastest. When we adopted Scout she already had some of that plaque residue built up in that back tooth, but as of a couple months ago we've finally managed to get rid of it.
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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on
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Do you guys ever use those little finger covers instead of the toothbrushes? I saw them in the store the other day, but wondered if they were as good at cleaning. My Vet has also been testing out a water additive that is supposed to be good at preventing plaque build up. wouldn't that make things easy! Probably has some terrible side effect, though....
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No tricks on keeping the mouth open but hopefully the flavored paste will help with that. We do have the finger tip deals that were also mentioned but right now at nine and a half weeks old her mouth is so tiny believe the puppy (i.e. cat) brush will do better. Plus this way it is the brush that gets bit and not me. Those baby teeth are like razors! She got my husband good and boy did he bleed--they were playing--he said that made them blood brother and sister. She has gotten better about that with him. Never got that way with me....yet anyway. Oh also figured I would catch her in a mellow just about to go to sleep time to try the first time out.
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We tried the other night to brush her teeth, she was being all sweet and loveable just starting to get sleepy AND it worked well!! Of course I think she likes the flavor of the dog toothpaste and the brush being so tiny helped a lot. Then yesterday she was kinda in the same state of mind and let me trim the hair on the bottom of her paws. It was just snip snip and we were all done. The putting our fingers in her mouth and gently rubbing her teeth and gums I'm sure that helped out a lot. How is it going for you?
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on
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I use every treat, diet, toys and brush Havoc's teeth once every two weeks (which I know is not enough, but i do the best I can..lol). He had his first dental at 7 years. It all depends on the dog and how often they chew, health, brushing, placement of teeth etc. I'm guessing Havoc many need another dental next year, which would be 3 years ago from his last.
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