Dental Cleaning

[Chris Smith]

How old should a dog/puppy be to get his first professional dental cleaning? My dog is about 11 months old now and I see "brown marks" on some of his teeth. I have brushed his teeth many times but I still see these marks and they don't come off. Is he too young to get them prof. cleaned?

I admit that I don't brush his teeth regularly - he doesn't like it so I have to be "up for the struggle" so I am inconsistent. But I have brushed them since he started getting adult teeth. He also eats dry kibble and gets a raw bones or greenie about 1 time a week.

I was also told that his teeth can be cleaned without anaesthesia for $85 (I am in an expensive part of the country). I think this is supposed to be much cheaper than with anaesthesia and clearly, much safer.

Have any of you had this done before?

[TimberWolf]

I have gotten my dogs' teeth cleaned professionally before but I've been told they should be about 4 yrs old or more. But it may be different with every dog. You can ask your vet what might be the best thing to do. Get a second opinion if you are unsure if the first answer is enough. I used anaesthesia because it allowed them to really get into the nooks and crannies. Without the anaesthesia, the vets might not be able to get into the tougher spots without hurting your dog or your dog hurting them. I doubt your dog has much to worry about at his age, but it's always worth it to ask.

[Amber]

Anne,

Do you know why they say to wait until they are around 4?

[TimberWolf]

It's when dogs are expected to get enough tarter on their teeth that they'd need the dental care. usually it starts building up around that time but sometimes it takes longer. If a dog is not eating right or has bad teeth to begin with, they might need the cleaning done earlier. Some people don't want any browning to show so they get their dog's teeth prof. cleaned much earlier when browning appears and more often.

There most likely isn't anything wrong with Chris' dog's teeth. I don't think there is much of an age limit on the dog as long as the puppy teeth have all fallen out and the adult teeth are in their place. His dog would have his adult teeth by now so that's when it's possible to clean them. If his dog had his puppy teeth still, vets would most likely advise to wait until it falls out.

[Grace Erick]

Chris,

I still can't get the hang of brushing Capri's teeth. I don't know if it's because her mouth is so small, but my vet did say even applying the paste with your finger helps if you don't always brush. You just have to make sure the toothpaste says it has "enzymatic" action. My vet said that would help break up tartar. I thought I saw someone say to use gauze with paste on it to better get in their mouth since it is somewhat abbrasive, so I may try that.

It sounds like your dog has the same amount of tartar as Capri had at 3 years old when I just cleaned her teeth. It was enough to make me want them cleaned, but with chis they lose teeth very early in life.

The vets say to do a blood test to make sure the dog is healthy since the anesthesia goes throught I believe it's the kidneys and maybe the liver too, but some vets don't ask you to do it. That costs from $40-$50. I have heard the cleaning w/o anethesia is about $50, the anesthesia is about $80, but I may be a little off on that price, so the average for cleaning teeth in WA where I live is about $200 not including pulling teeth.

I don't think your dog is too young to have his teeth cleaned. The gas should be isoflourane, sevoflourane or propoval and then they use morphine as an induction shot before they get the gas. It's supposed to be very safe, but you know nothing is 100% safe for humans or dogs when they go under.

My chi show dog friend trained her pups to let her clean their teeth. She has all of the dental instruments. I sure wish my dog didn't have to need anesthesia. The proceedure was about 20 minutes.

Bye, Grace

[Grace Erick]

Chris,

My chihuahua books says the brown tartar should be removed. It also says if the dog's gums are red, that's a bad sign also, especially if they are bleeding. It's the same for people too. Bad dental care can lead to gingervitis, and that can lead to an early death from heart problems, also the same with people.

Bye, Grace

[Liz Gilbert]

That actually isn't a bad price. My mom called to find out what the fee was for her cats, and it was quite a bit more than that. It was well over $100.

And just for the record, once tarter is formed the only way to remove it is by a dental cleaning. You can remove plaque and break that down, but not tarter. If you don't remove the plaque that turns into tarter/calculus. If there was a toothpaste out there for dogs that breaks down tarter/calculus, I'm sure there would be one for humans too. Once that stuff is formed, you can only get it off with a dental instrument :)

~Liz

[Grace Erick]

Hi Liz,

I don't know if you can back me up on this, but I think the plaque forms under the gum line, so that is a reason to get a professsioanl cleaning.

Maybe I got it wrong and it's plaque that can be broken up by just applying the enzymatic paste with your finger, but I thought plaque was under the gums where he toothpaste doesn't reach. Now I'll have to ask my vet again to find out what he said.

Bye, Grace

[Liz Gilbert]

No, plaque is the sticky white stuff that forms when you don't brush your teeth. When its not brushed off, it combines with the minerals in your saliva to form calculus or tarter. That can build up under the gums and on the surfaces of the tooth that you can see.

Plaque can be removed with brushing. Calculus/tarter can not. It can not be dissolved with enzymes, it can only be removed by scaling with a dental instrument.

Have you ever used a disclosing tablet on yourself? Its one of those pink things that you chew up, and it stains the parts of your teeth that you missed while brushing. The stuff that turns pink, thats the plaque, and you can brush that away.

We had a vet as a patient at one of the offices I worked at, and she was asking a lot of questions. She said that in school they have like one section on dental health, and thats it. She didn't get much training on dental health of animals, because when she went to school it wasn't a big deal. Its only now that its starting to be in demand.

I hope that helped explain it.

~Liz

[Grace Erick]

Hi Liz,

Thank you for your explaination. I have never even got an explaination that good for my own teeth from my own human dentist, lol:)

No, I have never used a disclosing tablet or even heard of one before. Thank you for all your information!!!

Bye, Grace

[Chris Smith]

Found out some more information about this so I thought I would pass it along. I called the doggie dental hygeniest and talked to her about Nalu. After a detailed discussion about his age, breed, size, background, health history, and the brown spots on his teeth, I got some answers.

Nalu is really pretty young to need a cleaning - especially if he eats kibble, raw bones, greenies and gets his teeth brushed. There is no specific age to clean dogs teeth and it is usually done based upon need (bad breath and seeing lots of plaque).

In Nalu's case, she thought he probably has brown stains at such a young age since he is rescue dog who had antibiotics before he had adult teeth and may have had very poor nutrition when he was young. Both of these things will cause the enamel on the teeth to develop poorly. This makes it not as strong and more susceptible to stains. It is cosmetic and does not affect teeth or gum health.

[Grace Erick]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the information. I wish that were the case with my chihuahua. Hers really needed to be cleaned. I am more vigilant about keeping her teeth cleaned after I had them professionally done. You just hate to have them put under anesthesia, even though it's safer these days.

Bye, Grace

[Suni Brown]

So, just a curious question.....How do you actually brush a dogs teeth? My vet showed me and Gwen was an angel. I tried, out came the horns. Same with clipping her nails. She doesn't even require a treat when the vet clips her. She sits still and licks his hand. I try??.....Yea right. She is trying to get up and leave.

[TimberWolf]

part of it might have to do with how nervous you are when you do it. if you are unsure, then your dog may pick up on it and feel insecure about letting you do it. You need to take the upper hand and help him feel secure that you are taking control of this situation and that you aren't going to hurt him. I just hold my dog between my legs and just stick the brush in her mouth. She doesn't mind it that much because I don't look like I'm going to take no for an answer. But if your dog is that nervous about it. try the little rubber finger brushes that are found in dog stores. that might appear less threatening to your dog. then once he's used to you sticking your finger in his mouth and rubbing paste around then try the brush. As far as clipping the nails? if he wiggles too much it could really hurt him if you don't cut them right. You could cut too close to the blood vessel and he could bleed or you could crack the nail. I'd suggest you get an expert to help you out so you can get used to actually doing it and your dog gets used to seeing you cut his nails.

[Krysta Smith]

I was thinking of taking Lola in for a dental cleaning as well. I was just brushing her teeth yesterday- I usually brush them all really well with just the toothbrush and water, then go over them quickly with the toothpaste, otherwise it's a slobberfest. Lola loves having her teeth brushed but when the toothpaste comes out I can't do anything because she's constantly licking anything that comes near her mouth. That's why I start with just water. Anyway, yesterday when I was brushing them I noticed she had a tiny bit of yellow in the crease on two of her top teeth, and she bled a little, even though I'd just done them a couple days ago and she was fine then. She always has stuff to chew on and she is eating the nutro tartar control food, so I was very surprised her gums started to bleed. It was only in one particular spot, maybe she doesn't chew there- although it's in the middle of one side. It wasn't much and after I'd brushed them a little they stopped and Lola didn't seem to care. Maybe I'm not doing it right? I usually just stick the tooth brush in and try to get all her teeth before she tries to chew the toothbrush apart. I do a couple rounds of water and then one with toothpaste.

[Andre Mendizabal]

I bought a dental hygiene product on the pet shop the other day and wanted to know what you guys think about it... I don't remember the brand right know but its kind of a doggie mouthwash that you put in their water, its based on chlorophyle (sp?) and it says it helps keeping teeth clean, prevents the accumulation of tartar and helps with bad breath. My girls are starting to get some tartar on their teeth and, although I do wash their teeth, I thought this could help. I saw a show on Animal Planet the other day and they showed a dog that had really bad teeth, the tartar was so bad that she lost almost all her teeth and an infection grew on her jaw, she had to be put to sleep because the pain was so bad and the damage couldn't be reversed, it freaked me out so bad I ran to the shop and bought that thing...
Has anybody used something like it????