Brushing a Dog's Teeth

amitydeerslayer · 01-23-2002, 01:01 AM

I was wondering how many people on this board brush their dogs teeth. I have a 12wk old lab pup and my new vet keeps insisting that I should be brushing his teeth.

I have two other dogs, one is 13, and I have never once brushed their teeth. They are given milk bones and rawhides consistently and I have never had a problem with their teeth.

I don't give the pup rawhides yet, but he does recieve milk bones and chews nyla bones regularly. I don't really think the brushing is necessary but what does everyone else think??

Bo Nose Birds · 01-23-2002, 07:32 AM

I have owned dogs over 40 years and have never brushed a dogs mouth. Some of my dogs have lived to over 15 years and still had good teeth. (never really wanted to kiss my dogs on the lips but if you do maybe a brushing would be good}

MoBeagle · 01-23-2002, 05:09 PM

I never could figure why anyone would brush a dogs teeth? Next they will have doggie dentists to take our money too, just like our drs. and dentists. LOL

drdan · 01-23-2002, 06:41 PM

My vet who seems pretty competent and is a bird hunter as well recommends a cleaning by a vet every two years. Some dogs can develop gum problems which can affect their health in other ways.

musicdvm · 01-23-2002, 11:01 PM

Brushing your dog's teeth is definitely recommended by the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Assoc). However it's hard for me to even recomm. something I don't even do to my own dog's teeth. When my dog's teeth start getting bad, I clean them. That's how most people approach it. drdan pretty much summed it up...although most dogs don't need a teeth cleaning until about their 5th year.

Mobeagle, too late....veterinary dentists already exist. They do pretty much everything that a human dentist would do. Seriously...I'm not kidding.

ShortHair · 01-23-2002, 11:02 PM

I don't brush the dogs or mine that often. I think it's overrated<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>!

MoBeagle · 01-24-2002, 04:19 PM

I guess I've seen about everything now :-)

Mr. 16 gauge · 01-24-2002, 08:04 PM

I just read a very good article on this very topic in the latest Retriever Journal. Seems that most problems with tartar and gum disease come when dogs are fed moist food and aren't given an hard foods or toys to routinely scrape the plaque off of their teeth. It then hardens and causes problems. I used to work for a vet, and cleaning a dog's teeth was not a quick and easy procedure...it required general anesthesia and usually by the time the dog got to this point, teeth were falling out, ect. In addition, just because it is a dogs 'teeth', doesn't mean it won't affect other organ systems. Several cases of mitral valve disease can be attributed to poor oral hygene, and I don't know of any breed, not even sporting dogs, that can run the fields and find and retrieve birds with a mitral valve prolapse. If I can prevent future problems & costs with a few minutes of brushing, I'm going to do it.

TxBrian · 01-25-2002, 12:31 PM

I would say the most important thing is to not feed your dog "WET" or "Canned food". The dry food tends to keep the dogs gum line free of mess. Also, Stay away from rawhide. Nasty stuff. My LAB likes to eat and chew on tree limbs, Big Bones and Hard Rubber Balls which seem to work real nice. If the dog develops a gum issue. Then let the VET repair the damage. Its the same price to clean a bad mouth as it is to maintain a good mouth.