Teeth Cleaning

Our Reggie is about 7, we think. (adopted).
She has what the vet called a significant heart murmer.

We were concerned about her much needed dental. But the way I feel is, she shouldn't suffer with bad or painful teeth. To me, it's a quality of life issue.

The vet said he would take care, and I believed him. She got antibiotics before the procedure, and after.

Everything went well. Reggie is even more lively since the dental. She plays with the other dogs more. She had to have 4 teeth pulled.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Three years ago, Bucky's vet advised cleaning under anesthetic. He was 10 at the time and I was concerned about both the safety and the cost. Since he has been getting two Dentastix daily, his tartar is gone. Even his vet is impressed. :)

Small dogs tend to get nasty teeth faster than larger dogs, because they have the same number of teeth as a large dog, crammed into a tiny mouth. It's probably too late for brushing to fix the problem. Please let your vet do a cleaning. Your dog may also need some extractions, due to decay, as Dr. Doug mentioned. BTW, dogs can eat just fine without all their teeth. I had my daughter's 7 lb. yorkie-poo for several months, and I had him get a dental right after we took him in. He had to have four teeth removed, and he was just fine.

After the cleaning, follow up with daily brushing with a toothbrush made for small dogs and a dog toothpaste. I'm partial to Nylabone toothbrushes and TropiClean Clean Teeth Gel. The gel says no brushing needed, but ignore that. Brushing is much more beneficial. I always do it at night, right before bed, so that it stays on the teeth longer. Don't allow food/water for at least 30 minutes before or after brushing for best results.

I've owned dogs for over 70 years. Fed them large dry hard kibbles and beef bones and their teeth were always shiney white. Are some breeds just more suseptable to tartar problems? I bought a 1 year ACD about 3 years ago from a breeder. When he arrived his teeth looked terrible. Looked like he was living in a 3rd world country for the first year of his life. Now his teeth are bright white and I don't see any tartar after changing his diet for a couple of years. Told my dentist I'm gonna start eating kibble and dog bones to make my teeth look that good.:B Yep, got a lecture about that diet would't be good for humans. :S

Can't add anything to the above comments--mostly what I would have said.

Pawz4me wrote:
It's too late now for brushing to help much. She needs the cleaning and then you need to keep up with brushing. Any pet store should have a variety of toothbrushes and toothpastes for dogs. Do NOT use a human toothpaste.

Anesthesia nowadays is much safer than it used to be. Trust your vet.

Though retired, I still work occasionally. Last week I did a dental on an older poodle same condition but REALLY BAD mouth, heart murmur, mammary tumor and needed to be spayed. This is a lot more than I like to do at once, but for the dog's health it needed to be done.

She did fine, but ended up losing all the rest of her teeth (no real option here).

The anesthetic agents are so much safer than what we had 37 years ago when I graduated from vet school. There is still risk, more than a healthy young dog. Part of our job as vets is to determine if the situation is serious enough to justify the risk.

Doug, DVM

It's too late now for brushing to help much. She needs the cleaning and then you need to keep up with brushing. Any pet store should have a variety of toothbrushes and toothpastes for dogs. Do NOT use a human toothpaste.

Anesthesia nowadays is much safer than it used to be. Trust your vet.

We had a dog that had to take an antibiotic a few days before and after a teeth cleaning for the same reason. We never let anybody put her out for it, though. She was a tiny 5 lb chi and accepted the cleaning procedure well. Then I used the dog toothpaste, beef flavor, and rubber finger scrubber thing to brush her teeth after that. We'd do it every night while watching TV. The enzymes in the CET dog toothpaste help break down any tartar the toothbrush misses. This worked well and I still use the same method on Darcy, the dog we have today.Her teeth look great. I search online and get a better price for the toothpaste than from the vet.

A simple brushing won't do it just like why you go to the dentist to have your teeth cleaned. What did the Vet say about sedation and Cookie's heart murmur?

Bill