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Do you brush your dog's teeth daily? weekly? never?


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Interesting, but I would never x-ray my dogs because their breath is a bit stinky. If the dog's teeth look fine, they eat well and don't show any discomfort I am not going to dig for problems. Dogs generally don't live long enough for dental problems to develop into a serious condition, given the conditions I stated in my second sentence. 

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On 3/28/2019 at 5:20 PM, Neo's Treat Dispenser said:

The answer is yes, there are no butchers here that I know of... oops, I think that got answered already..

You're in the Portland, OR area and have no butcher shops? Poppycock! ;)  Supermakets in the States all have butchers behind their meat aisles.

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10 hours ago, Smalahundur said:

Interesting, but I would never x-ray my dogs because their breath is a bit stinky. If the dog's teeth look fine, they eat well and don't show any discomfort I am not going to dig for problems. Dogs generally don't live long enough for dental problems to develop into a serious condition, given the conditions I stated in my second sentence. 

Says who?  If you are not a vet, how do you know?  I see dogs all the time suffering from severe dental disease.  The bacteria from their rotten teeth can damage their hearts, kidneys, brain, etc.  I've seen dogs with such rotten mouths that they had fractured jaws.  I've done countless dental cleans and extractions on old dogs.  Their owners call me back a month later and rave about how they are acting like a puppy again, that they had no idea how much pain the teeth must have been causing the dog.

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Good for you. And no, I am not a vet but next best thing (guess). Mileage may vary and all that, but if you as my vet would try to convince me to do expensive diagnostics on a symptomless dog (bad breath as indication for x-rays, come on) you would lose a customer instantly.

 

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I make recommendations based on what is best for the pet's health, not based on what I think the client wants to hear.

Just because you can't see disease with the naked eye does not mean there is absence of disease.  Dental infection smells.  The dog was not lacking in symptoms and she was my own, so I can do as I please.  Like I said, we were a pilot hospital they asked to use the test strip to see if they worked well.  They did.  We found a direct correlation between the score that the strip gave and periodontal disease.

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Dog breath smell is in my opinion a very important indicator that something is off.  Every dog has their own typical healthy smell (none too pleasing) or a "I just ate something gross (you don't wanna know what)" smell, but there is also a smell of illness,  be it gums or something else. 

Very interesting discussion, and my conclusion is - if the dog needs it - brush their teeth, if the dog does not - don't.

 

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Smalahundur:  As stated, to each our own! 

But I'll relate a story of one purebred BC who was, overall, a very healthy dog.  She had incontinence from a fairly early age, managed by low dose medications.  (Side note:  I adopted her when she was 3.5 yr old; she had pretty worn down teeth at that point, but nothing that looked "bad.")  She was on a raw homemade diet (in her later years, as formulated by a vet nutritionist), though never ate bones due to her bad teeth. 

When she was about 8 yr old, her incontinence became worse.  Vet adjusted the med, tried a different one, to little avail.  We were managing (though it was not pretty!), and I just figured she and I would deal with it for the rest of her life.  Quite unconnected, I decided to have her teeth checked by a vet dentist - knowing they needed cleaning (that genetics thing, likely).  He found TWO abscessed teeth, and a canine that needed a root canal (or extraction, which at the time, didn't seem like a good idea).  Dental vet was amazed that she was doing as well as she was, considering.  I would NEVER have suspected a dental problem, other than some plaque accumulating.

After the dental work, her incontinence seemed to improve.  Over more than a few months, we reduced her medications, and for the next EIGHT years (she lived to be 16!), she got one measly hormone tablet a month.  I don't even know if she needed that one, but I wasn't willing to find out if she wasn't! 

Conclusion:  low grade infection, circulating in her bloodstream, causing mild infection (never caught on a urinalysis), solved by dental work!

Realizing all dogs are different...there's my two cents' worth.  I brush my dogs' teeth now, and get them checked regularly (which might be only every few years).

diane

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So I had a conversation about all this with my vet and WRT to giving my pup raw bones, she shared with me that she recently had to extract broken teeth from two corgis, from the same house, that cracked their teeth on raw bones.  It's basically bone against bone and eventually the teeth crack.  So what's the solution I asked?...  She proposed a combination of brushing every other day, and giving a dental chew thingy the other day...

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1 hour ago, Neo's Treat Dispenser said:

...my vet and WRT to giving my pup raw bones, she shared with me that she recently had to extract broken teeth from two corgis, from the same house, that cracked their teeth on raw bones.  It's basically bone against bone and eventually the teeth crack....

I'm so far behind and still have some questions for Liz about the info she gave us but no time for a few more days.

Couldn't pass this one by though. Dogs will absolutely break teeth on the wrong kinds of bones that many people still continue to offer. Weight bearing bones from large ungulates, i.e. primarily cattle but even sheep, are simple too hard to give to dogs and pose far too great a risk of breaking teeth and should never be given. But people keep getting "marrow bones" for their dogs and wonder why they break their teeth on them.

The bones that savvy raw feeders give their dogs are softer edible bones like poultry frames and necks, smaller ribs (e.g. from deer, sheep, calves) that can be completely consumed. These bones aren't the ones that break dogs' teeth.

Any diet when fed inappropriately can be dangerous, and while I wholeheartedly embrace raw feeding, I shudder at some of the dangerous things people do in ignorance, and getting their dogs' teeth broken is one of those things.

Rant over . . . . ;)

 

 

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This has been an interesting thread! For those who do brush teeth, any favorite toothpaste or toothbrush brands? Do you use an electric tooth brush? I'm curious because I want to start a regular brushing routine for my dogs, and there are a lot of products out there to choose from! 

Also, does anyone have a ballpark price estimate for a routine dental cleaning? I'm going to ask my vet next time I go in.

Thanks!

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On 5/10/2019 at 4:03 PM, Ohalani said:

This has been an interesting thread! For those who do brush teeth, any favorite toothpaste or toothbrush brands? Do you use an electric tooth brush? I'm curious because I want to start a regular brushing routine for my dogs, and there are a lot of products out there to choose from! 

Also, does anyone have a ballpark price estimate for a routine dental cleaning? I'm going to ask my vet next time I go in.

Thanks!

I use Oratene toothpaste for dogs.   This stuff

I find it really is the best one. Highly recommended by vets.  In fact, I use it myself on my own teeth. It doesn't have chemical flavorings and other stuff in it, which is good, but it doesn't taste bad either. It is excellent for helping to prevent build-up of plaque. And if there is build-up, you can rub it on the plaque every day and in a week or so the plaque will simply chip off with a fingernail. I scale my dogs' teeth when needed with a dental tool. But I only need to do this because I don't brush their teeth as often as I should. You don't even have to use a brush with this stuff, but I do.

I wouldn't use an electric toothbrush myself. The sound might be nerve wracking for the dog, the vibration might be too harsh on the gums. Usually I use a pet toothbrush, although a regular one would work, and for the back teeth I get in there with my finger with a little rubber tooth cleaning thing on it.

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the timing of this thread is perfect as I logged in to ask a question about brushing teeth.

I have never brushed my dogs' teeth, but my new pup is 2 and has clear build up on her teeth. Professional cleanings here are ghastly expensive (over $1K). 

Judging by this thread, it appears brushing is okay, as is giving them raw bones (for those asking, I have heard from numerous sources that cooked bones can splinter so avoid those, per my sources). Does anyone have suggestions on how to acclimatize the dog to brushing? Mine will lose her mind if I start brushing. My thought is to let her taste the toothpaste, and go super slow: let her smell the toothbrush, treat; put toothbrush on teeth with no brushing, treat; one brushing movement, treat; and so on. Is that the proper protocol or do people have other thoughts? 

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Yes, Orastrips are still available.

 

I've worked in high end specialty, high end general practice, low cost urban and  low cost rural practices.  I've never seen a $1,0000 cleaning.  I have seen a dental that total that much with advanced extractions, full mouth radiographs and other procedures above and beyond a cleaning.

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On 5/13/2019 at 3:31 PM, Liz P said:

Yes, Orastrips are still available.

 

I've worked in high end specialty, high end general practice, low cost urban and  low cost rural practices.  I've never seen a $1,0000 cleaning.  I have seen a dental that total that much with advanced extractions, full mouth radiographs and other procedures above and beyond a cleaning.

Yeah, I was shocked. I was expecting in the $200-400 range. I'm going to call around, but I think it's the nature of the island I live on - things are expensive here. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/15/2019 at 5:16 PM, drharps said:

Yeah, I was shocked. I was expecting in the $200-400 range. I'm going to call around, but I think it's the nature of the island I live on - things are expensive here. 

Now of course, I would like to ask where you live. Naturally, no pressure to say if you don't want to. :)

As for the teeth, I have found that a set of dental tools for scaling when needed, and one of those brushes that fits on a finger are my best tools. Even so, it is hard to get at the backs of the teeth, and very hard to get all the way into the back of the dog's mouth even if you have patient dogs like mine. I figure I just do my best. But recently I had to pay...... a lot of money.....to have one tooth in the very back of Boo's mouth pulled out. It was one I had never been able really to see, and I did not realize it had gone bad.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I brush my three dogs teeth daily. Two are fed kibble, one is fed raw, but doesn't matter. All three get done. They go outside for the last time at night, and run straight to the bathroom to get their teeth brushed. Start early, and keep going. Toothpaste doesn't matter according to my dog's dentist. Also, you can start by using gauze pads and work your way up to a toothbrush. Hope that helps!

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/24/2019 at 12:16 PM, D'Elle said:

Now of course, I would like to ask where you live. Naturally, no pressure to say if you don't want to. :)

As for the teeth, I have found that a set of dental tools for scaling when needed, and one of those brushes that fits on a finger are my best tools. Even so, it is hard to get at the backs of the teeth, and very hard to get all the way into the back of the dog's mouth even if you have patient dogs like mine. I figure I just do my best. But recently I had to pay...... a lot of money.....to have one tooth in the very back of Boo's mouth pulled out. It was one I had never been able really to see, and I did not realize it had gone bad.

Apologies for the slow response. I live in Hawaii and it seems my vet is unusually expensive. Some of the others were more reasonable.

As for her teeth, I found the solution: bones from the butcher. Honestly the difference between what her teeth used to look like and now is pretty stark. 

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