How does dental health impact the overall health of my dog?
Dental health has a huge impact on the overall health of your dog. One thing I like to explain to people is the mouth of a dog is how they interact with the world. It's not just for chewing. They play, they grab, you know, they play tug of war. So when those things are affected, it affects every aspect of the dog's health, behavioral, organs. And also remember anything they swallow is going to be exposed to the rest of the body. So inflammation, bacteria, all those things can affect the organs down the line.
Dr. Patrick Ryan
Williams Veterinary Wellness
How can I care for my dog's teeth at home?
There are several things you can do to care for your dog's teeth at home. Number one is making sure your dog's actually chewing the hard food. When a dog doesn't chew their hard food, they tend to develop a lot of tartar. The other thing is brushing. Not only is this really good behaviorally to kind of train them to accept it, it's the best way to get underneath the gum line and make sure that that gum-tooth interaction is very healthy and probably the best way to keep the breath good. Other things are like chewing implements. These I base based on the animal's personality, is there competition, because not every dog can handle some of the chewing implements we use, but things like rawhides and other chewing implements, anything that scrapes the teeth can be quite helpful. But I do caution people against bones and antlers, as a dog can break their teeth on those. Dental cleanings are probably the best way you can maintain your dog's health, because we get into every little crevice, we clean under the gum line, make sure that the tooth is free of tartar, and we'll talk about that further.
What are some signs and symptoms of dental disease in dogs?
Sure. So the most common sign my clients will notice is halitosis or bad breath, and that usually means there's some aspect of dental disease. If you look closer, you'll often see calculus, also known as tartar, which is calcified plaque. You may know that plaque is a biofilm of microorganism colonies, and so that is nothing we want on our teeth for a long period of time.
What are some of the common dental diseases in dogs?
Some common diseases, the most common I would say would be the calculus leading to gingivitis, and the gingivitis inflammation basically makes the gums recede from the tooth. So the tooth loses its tight attachments with the gums, and that opens it for infection and even foreign material to get up into these little holes in the tooth and destroy the tooth and cause pain and infections. There's other tumors that we see sometimes over time, proliferation of gums, certain breeds have that, and every once in a while we'll see tooth root abscesses and fractures.
Why is early detection and diagnosis of dental disease so important?
Yes, that is so important to me. Too often we'll avoid looking at their dog's teeth until it's a real problem in older age. If we can jump on this early in life, not only can we learn together how to work to keep the teeth healthy, we can also teach the dog to chew, we can teach the dog to accept brushings, and the sooner we can prevent all that bacteria and inflammation from constantly being swallowed and entering the body, the better, because we don't want those organs affected. Dental disease can certainly lead to heart disease, kidney disease, and liver disease. These are all organs that are highly affected by what's being swallowed.
How often should my dog's teeth be checked?
You should check your dog's teeth as often as possible, even weekly. And I usually teach people how to do that, and it's really important for training. A professional should check your dog's teeth at least every 6 to 12 months. The older they are, the more often we should check them.
What is a professional dental cleaning like for a dog?
A professional cleaning is a lot different than what we're used to. We can't tell the dog to say, ah, or spit into a cup. So we have to use full anesthesia, and this is the only way you can do this safely. The airway has to be controlled, and so we keep anything from going back into the airway, and we put them under deeply. We use pain medications if needed, or blocks if needed, and we monitor them very carefully. We start with an exam and probing, and then we clean off all that tartar. We do dental x-rays so that we can see the parts of the tooth we can't see from the outside. Looking at the roots, you know, since a dog can't talk to us, they can't tell us if a tooth hurts, so we have to look closely and look at every root and make sure that the tooth is healthy under the bone, as well as from where we can see it. And then we use all this information to decide if a tooth has to be removed, or if there's other treatments we can do to keep that tooth going. We look at every tooth as its own individual patient, basically.
All right, so if you have any questions about dental health, or you're seeing these issues, don't hesitate to give us a call, and we'll start with an exam, and I can explain all these things to you and give you different ways to keep your dog's mouth healthy and leading to a healthy long life.
More Information on Dog Dental Care from Dr. Ryan
Dr. Patrick Ryan
Williams Veterinary Wellness
How often should I brush my dog's teeth?
Good question. This is one of those reality versus the most optimum. You would want to brush them every day if possible, but I find that if you can brush them about three times a week, that seems reasonable. And that will often keep away the plaque and tartar that cause most of the dental problems.
Are there any tips for making brushing a dog's teeth easier?
Yes. This is something I take very seriously because you don't want to wait until they have problems to deal with dental health. You want to start as soon as you get that little puppy. It's mostly training, training, training, training. Naturally, a dog does not want their mouth touched by human hands, specifically the lip. They don't like their lips lifted and that's why a lot of dogs will avoid our hands when they come close to their mouth. So the first most important thing is desensitization training. Basically, baby steps of acceptance towards your goal, which is a full mouth brushing. So don't expect to get a full mouth brushing anytime soon when you're starting. Just little bits at a time of acceptance and reward for that acceptance and push a little further each time.
One of the most important things I find is don't try to visualize what you're doing. If you lift a lip and try to visualize what you're brushing the dog's going to fight you most of the time. If you can desensitize them enough for that, that's a good sign, but they're still not going to like it. What I find is the most realistic way to brush teeth is to hold the muzzle gently, allowing them to open and close a little, and then focus on the outside of the teeth going under the lips and kind of doing it blindly. Most of the time the most important areas are the outside of the dental cascade. I can't expect my clients to get the insides, although if you can, that's great, but most dental disease actually happens from the outside. So kind of being sneaky and brushing all the way around blindly, keeping up into the gum line and down into the gum line for each quadrant.
What products should I use to brush my dog's teeth?
Good question. So a regular toothbrush is fine. A lot of people have a better time with these finger brushes, especially during the training period. And then you do want to use an animal toothpaste. Do not use a human toothpaste that has fluoride. We don't want, you know, the dog is certainly going to swallow the paste. So we want paste that's made to swallow, and usually it helps to have some enzymes in it to break down the biofilm of the mouth. And also dogs will not tolerate human toothpaste. They don't like mint. So our most popular flavor for animal toothpaste is chicken, which sounds disgusting to us, but the dogs tend to like it and it can be helpful as almost a treat during the training process.
Do I still need to brush my dog's teeth if I give them greenies?
Yes, you do. Greenies can help, but it only helps as much as the dog is a slow, careful chewer. And it's, you know, a dog's going to have certain preferences. Maybe it only likes to chew on this side, or it eats it too quickly. So brushing is going to be much better than a chewing implement for the most part. And brushing is probably the best way to really clean the gum line, which is the most important aspect.
Can dogs get cavities?
Dogs can get cavities, and I would say it's not nearly as common as in the human world. They get different types of issues than humans. Usually it's more of a tartar leading to gingivitis, leading to separation between the gums and the tooth. They can also fracture teeth, but yes, not commonly cavities.
Are there chew toys that can work to also brush my dog's teeth?
Yes. As you can imagine, before dogs lived with us, they still had to have good dental health. And the way they did this is chewing on all those things that they would be hunting or scavenging for. So we try to give them things that maybe will help with that. Basically, you need scraping. So some of my favorite options are dental health foods, which you can buy alone or add to their food. You'll notice they're big and hard, and that forces the dog to chew with those back teeth. If you really pay attention, you'll notice a lot of your dogs aren't chewing, and they're quite silent when they're eating their kibble, because many of them learn to be lazy and just gulp these down. And that's why I like the dental health to kind of force that chewing. If your dog chews the hard food, you'll have much fewer problems with dental health. So that's what we have here. And then we also, I don't mind things like rawhides. I know there's been a lot of things online about it, but try to just buy it from this side of the earth, and do your research. I would say most dogs can handle rawhides quite well. I like it because it's hard at first, and then it softens, so I find them very digestible. I don't like the huge, knotty ones slathered with a bunch of stuff on it. I like the simple weight-based ones, and it is dependent on your dog's personality type. If you give a dog something like that, and they gulp it down in 30 seconds, that's not very helpful. And that'll often lead to problems, possibly choking, or GI issues, because they're not going to be able to digest that very well. If they can take their time with it, very helpful. But also, watch out for competition with other dogs.
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