When it comes to keeping Fido healthy, dog dental care is a crucial but often overlooked part of a daily pet care routine.

While you might just think that cleaning dogs teeth is a good way to relieve bad dog breath (and it is), there are actually more important reasons to ensure that you provide your dog with the appropriate canine dental program and, in fact, having bad teeth and gums can cause a lot of health problems for your dog that will cause him illness and shorten his life span.

How Bad Dental Care Can Kill Your Dog

Just like in people, dogs can get tarter build up on their teeth. This can cause bacteria to form which is the main cause of that awful dog breath you smell. If left untreated, this can cause tooth loss as well as gum disease.

But the bacteria can be more harmful than just some bad breath and lost teeth – it can get into your dogs blood stream and cause affect his organs.

In fact, there is a new study out done by Dr. Larry Glickman at Purdue which links gum disease to heart disease in dogs. So, not taking care of your dogs dental needs may send him to an early grave!

How To Provide Proper Dog Dental Care

I know you don’t want your pets life to be cut short and thankfully it’s pretty easy to put a good canine dental plan into place. There’s 3 steps you can take to ensure healthy teeth and gums for your dog:

1. Regular vet visits and a dental scaling when necessary.
2. Brushing your dogs teeth regularly
3. Providing your dog with treats or toys that help to clean his teeth.

Does Your Dog Need A Dentist?

You know how you go to the dentist every 6 months and get a cleaning?

Well, chances are your dog might need one too.

Now, if you clean your dogs teeth properly you may not have to have this done every 6 months but chances are that you will have to spring for a dog teeth cleaning (or scaling) at some point in your dogs life.

When you take your dog in to the vet for a yearly check-up, they will look at your dogs teeth to see how much plaque is built up. If it is excessive, they will probably recommend a scaling which involved scraping the plaque off the dogs teeth.

Of course, Fido probably isn’t going to sit still for that like you do in the dentist chair, so this involves anesthesia and can get to be a bit expensive. I just had one done for my dog and it was $350!

Providing proper dog dental care throughout the year can help reduce the frequency of needing to have his teeth cleaned by the vet.

Dog Teeth Cleaning Tips

In order to keep Fidos teeth in tip top shape, you will need to add cleaning your dogs teeth to your daily grooming routine and for that you will need a dog toothbrush and dog toothpaste.

Some people like to use a little rubber tip that fits over your finger and has some nubs on it. You put the toothpaste on the tip and rub your finger on the dogs teeth.

My dog doesn’t mind me playing around in her mouth, so I like to use a small dog toothbrush and actually brush her teeth like you would a persons.

If your dog doesn’t like you putting your finger or a toothbrush inside their mouth, you might have to approach this gradually. Start by touching the outside of her mouth and over a period of a few weeks, move to lifting up her gums and then finally touching her teeth.

Here’s a good video that shows you what to do during dog teeth cleaning:

A Bit About Dog Toothpaste….

Be sure to use ONLY dog toothpaste made specifically for canines because it has special enzymes that help reduce tarter and bacteria. Human toothpaste isn’t good for dogs plus your dog probably won’t like the taste. Dog toothpaste, on the other hand, is flavored for dogs and they love it! Just like in the video above, I use the poultry flavor on my dogs teeth and she really likes it!

Treats For Dog Dental Care

In addition to brushing your dogs teeth, there are some treats and chew toys you can give him that will help, not only with cleaning dogs teeth, but also with getting rid of bad dog breath.

My vet recommended a Nylabone that helps to keep down tarter and gives your dog something to chew on to keep the amused. The great thing about them is that they don’t break apart so you don’t have to worry about your dog ingesting a big chunk of it and causing a digestive issue.

Another thing you can use is a Dental Kong which is a rubber chewy on a rope. Great for throwing around or playing tug of war with or just for chewing on! It’s supposed to be very durable (I haven’t tried it with my dog yet):

Finally, if you want to relieve bad dog breath, these greenies are pretty good. My Pom had horrid bad breath and they worked great plus she loved them! And if your dog is overweight, the even have a “lite” version!

As you can see, providing the appropriate dog dental care isn’t that difficult and cleaning dogs teeth properly can really help keep your dog healthy. Ignoring your dogs dental needs can result in disease and shortened life span. Don’t let your dog die over something that can easily be prevented