- Prevent Dogs from Eating Sugary Sweets
- Remove Plaque with a Dental Toy or Dental Treat
- Introduce a New Type of Diet specifically RAW
- Have Professional Dental Cleaning Performed by a Veterinarian
Most people do not realize this but many dogs suffer from some kind of dental problem in their life. Without strong healthy teeth, the quality of life decreases for a dog. Oral pain, will reduce the effectiveness on how a dog chews their food and consequentially cause digestive problems. Poor oral hygiene allows bacteria to thrive and the bacteria in the mouth, teeth, and gums can travel through the blood stream affecting several vital organs such as the heart, kidneys, liver, and etc.
To prevent major dental problems for our pets, it is best to keep their teeth clean! So what do we do?
How to Keep Your Dog’s Teeth Clean
The easiest solution for most dog owners to give your dog a chew toy filled with non-sugary treats.
Other people will say to brush your dog’s teeth but that sounds easier that it actually is. Most people like myself just use dental treats and dental chewing toys.
Prevention is Key to Maintaining Dental Hygiene
Do not allow your dog to eat any sugary foods.
This means no more ice cream, cakes, and pies. Anything that contains sugar is bad. Dog’s that don’t eat sugar will have much better dental hygiene than dogs that do eat sugar. These types of sugars (glucose, lactose, fructose, and maltose) will disrupt the PH level in your dog’s mouth and turn it into an acidic environment. Anything less than 5.5 PH will start to dissolve your tooth’s enamel. (Source)
The bottom line is that sugar causes teeth to decay.
How to Keep your Dog’s Teeth Clean
From personal experiences, a dental chew toy or dental treat works best. Giving your dog a dental chew toy or treat is probably the easiest solution to maintaining your dog’s oral health.
With a Dental Kong, I stuff some food inside, freeze it, and let my dog get to work on it. It takes my dog on average about 3 minutes of constant chewing to get all the food out of it.
Why I choose the Dental Kong? I like the design and it lasts long. The dental Kong comes in a variety of sizes and it has ridges in each groove that seems to effectively take out plaque which help keep my dog’s teeth clean.
Dried Dog Food Can Actually Help!
Another easy way of keeping your dog’s teeth clean is to feed it dried dog food after your dog consuming something sugary. Some dog foods actually mention on the package that dried dog food helps the oral health of your dog by scrubbing teeth as it chews. Some argue that it’s a marketing myth but I think it works!
The Raw Diet
You ever noticed how animals in the wild have strong healthy teeth? It’s because they eat raw bony meat. So why is raw very significant?
Raw meat contains natural enzymes that can help stop the build up of dental plaque. These enzymes however are actually sensitive to heat so cooking them destroys them and this why some people swear on feeding their dog on the raw diet.
Additionally, raw uncooked bones become natural dental chews so that’s another plus with raw food. (BTW: DO NOT EVER GIVE YOUR DOG COOKED BONES i.e. COOKED CHICKEN BONES! COOKED BONES WILL SPLINTER INTO SHARP PIECES AND CAN KILL YOUR DOG)
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/the-disturbing-cuase-of-dental-disease-in-dogs/
Dental Chews?
If brushing and feeding the raw diet is not your thing, then try purchasing dental chews. Just make sure that your dental chews do not contain any ingredient that can help promote dental plaque because some ironically contain them.
Another problem I find with dental chews is that you need to make sure the chews are larger than your dog’s mouth. If not, your dog will probably just end up gobbling the chew with about two bites, which destroys the whole purpose of the dental chew.
Professional Dental Cleaning?
Some vets offer dental cleaning but I would choose this as a last resort option.
The reason this is a last resort is because your dog will be administered under anesthesia by your vet. There is some risks involved so don’t take this option lightly as it is not cheap. Overall, this is the best way to have your dog’s mouth professionally cleaned.
Conclusion
Keeping your dog’s teeth clean is vital to maintaining a healthy quality of life. Dog’s that have dental problems can’t eat as well as healthier dogs and may suffer from a lot of dental related pain. Furthermore, bacteria in the gums can make its ways into your dogs bloodstream and cause other health issues with the heart, liver, and etc.
By putting in the effort to keep your dog’s teeth clean, not only are you increasing the quality of life for your dog but you are helping minimize expensive related medical costs due a problem that can be easily preventable.
