How to keep your dogs teeth clean and healthy

When was the last time you checked your dog's teeth? Teeth harbour infection and may well cause all sorts of medical problems, as your dog ages.

It's easy to ignore brushing your dogs teeth because when they're young, they seem to manage to keep their teeth sparkling. But when was the last time you looked?

The only way to keep your dogs teeth clean and keep them healthy into old age is to brush them every day from a young age. If you don't , tartar will build up and by the time they're 6 you may well be looking at having to have their teeth scraped and cleaned by the vet; an expensive operation usually, as the dog needs to be anaesthetised.

Prevention - Puppy Teeth cleaning.

During the early socialisation and training phase, get your puppy used to the feeling of getting her teeth brushed by firstly using just your finger, and then moving onto a wee finger toothbrush, or small sized dog tooth brush. Don't bother with tooth past at this stage, you're just getting your puppy used to the process. Do this just for a few seconds each day.

NB - if you're puppy prefers to bite and nip you instead of sitting still, don't be forceful. Remember that you're trying to build up a nice experience for them. Ask your behaviourist or trainer for help if you're struggling.

Gradually build this up and then when they're adult teeth are in and grown, you can start to use the tiniest amount of tooth paste. Please note that this has to be dog tooth paste. There are several flavours out there including beef and chicken. Why not ask your vet nurse for a wee trial at teeth brushing to see what flavour your puppy prefers.

Fixing plaqued up teeth.

The first thing to do really is to contact your vet for advice here - to see how bad the problem is, and whether they feel that it's fixable without scaling.

There are remedial products such as tooth gel and plaque off that can significantly improve the state of your dog's teeth. If you use these to kind of loosen the plaque and then use a nylon bone like a nylabone or dentease bone, then that will further help to remove the plaque.

In addition, however you want to start to brush your dogs teeth on a daily basis. You might need to start to accustom them to this as per the puppy teeth cleaning guide above. Then build up to a daily brushing regime.

There's more information here on how to keep your dog's teeth clean.