Dog Dental Disease - starting a dental care program

Posted by Clare Bristow

dog-teeth Yesterday I mentioned how important it was to look after your dog's teeth and that a dental care program is essential in order to prevent dental disease - click here to read the post.

Dental disease is progressive, your dog won't just have [tag]tartar[/tag] on his teeth, he will have tartar that progresses to [tag]periodontal disease[/tag]. Each progression of the disease will be more painful for your dog and more costly to treat, so starting regular dental care makes sense.

There are two parts to a dental care program - regular veterinary check-ups and home dental care.

Veterinary Check-ups

Veterinary knowledge on dog dental care has advanced dramatically over the last few years, and with it dental technology. Dogs can now be fitted with braces, have implants and root canals to name a few procedures.

How often your dog has a check-up will depend upon his age and the condition of his teeth. Generally puppies will be examined at each vaccination appointment during their first year. Your vet will be particularly interested in your dogs bite, and if this is not correct, then abnormalities may be rectified by orthodontic treatment.

Between the ages of one and three an annual check-up should be sufficient and thereafter every six months is the recommended interval.

This might sound like a lot of trips to the vet, but toothache is as painful to your dogs as it is to humans. Remember how toothache puts a dampener on your mood and can even make you a bit short tempered - it will do the same for your dog.

It's quite common during a check-up for your dogs teeth to be x-rayed because the majority of the tooth surface is below the gum line. From this your vet can identify any bacteria that's flourishing and look at the health of the jaw bone.

If your dog has tartar on his teeth then your vet will need to remove it. It will be necessary for your dog to be anesthetized for a dental cleaning procedure because his teeth will need to be checked below the gum line and any tartar removed.

Once your dog has had his teeth cleaned, you should only need to have it repeated occasionally or if you allow the tartar to form again.

Home Dental Care

This comprises a home examination of your dog's teeth, brushing your dog's teeth and giving your dog food and toys that help to remove plaque.

A home examination really means, be aware of what is happening in your dog's mouth:

Are any of the symptoms of dental disease present, such as bad breath, red and inflamed gums, yellow/brown tartar around the gum line?
Are there any broken or missing teeth?
Has your dog started pawing at his face, stopped chewing on his favorite toy or avoiding drinking cold water?
Are there any unusual lumps on his face, or is his face more tender than usual?

If you notice anything that concerns you, call your vet and talk it through with him.

You should brush your dog's teeth on a daily basis, every other day at the very least. It takes approximately two days before plaque mineralizes and hardens into tartar.

Tartar cannot be removed by brushing, that's why daily brushing to remove plaque is so important.

Certain foods have been formulated to help with the removal of plaque from your dogs teeth, most notably Hill's with their Hill's T/D Diet (not on the list of pet foods recalled). If you don't want to switch your dog's food, then hard kibble is better than soft food as the act of biting into the biscuits will remove some of the plaque.

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