The whole tooth

My year-old crossbreed has got bad breath and his teeth are quite stained. Should I be following a dental hygiene routine for my dog?
Tina Searle

The simple, short answer is “Yes, you should be following a home dental hygiene routine.” In the wild, a dog’s teeth would clean themselves naturally whilst eating. Assuming you are feeding manufactured food, then that natural role of the diet has been removed, and the responsibility for keeping our dogs’ teeth clean comes down to us owners.
In an ideal world, we would brush our dogs’ teeth every time after he or she has eaten, or at least twice daily. It is best to start when your dog is a puppy because brushing the teeth is not a normal behaviour. It should be a pleasant experience, but you will need to set aside time for it because it can seem like one big game, as with so many things when training a puppy!
A dog’s mouth is not only differently shaped from ours but also varies between breeds. Specifically-designed canine toothbrushes are available so you should be able to find one which matches the size and shape of your dog’s mouth. The toothpaste we use when brushing our own teeth is not suitable for dogs not only because is it designed to be spat out but also because it is flavoured to suit our taste-buds. Again, veterinary toothpastes in different flavours (for example, poultry, malt) can be found.
Start by letting your dog taste the toothpaste, then introduce the idea of brushing by rubbing the teeth and gums gently with your finger. If your dog does not take to an actual toothbrush, then a finger brush might be more acceptable, which simply slips over your finger so that it mimics rubbing the teeth and gums with your finger.
If your dog will not tolerate having his teeth brushed, there are other ways of helping his dental hygiene. These include:
- special powder added to food to reduce plaque build-up;
- dental chews and biscuits – a pleasant and convenient way for your dog’s teeth to be brushed, but beware of the extra energy content; you do not want your dog to gain weight! Reduce the amount fed of the main diet to allow for them;
- dental-care foods (routine and prescription) – instead of all the crunch being at the surface of the teeth, as happens when a dog eats standard dried foods, the nuggets of these foods are formulated to allow the teeth to sink into them, enabling their abrasive nature to help clean the teeth, so it is rather like eating a toothbrush!
- there are also drinking water supplements designed to improve oral hygiene (rather like drinking water with added mouth wash).
You mention bad breath which can certainly reflect poor dental hygiene. Do bear in mind that there could be another underlying reason such as:
- infected broken tooth;
- caries;
- gum disease;
- foreign body wedged in mouth and/or abscess;
- eating malodorous material such as faeces, decomposing food materials and so on (yuk!);
- is your dog washing his rear-end excessively? Impacted anal sacs are a common finding in my experience; although many argue they may be a red herring, I find that the bad breath often clears up once they have been expressed.
Although your dog is a year old, one should not overlook the effects of an underlying health problem. In particular, I am thinking of kidney failure which can develop in young dogs and can be the sole reason for an owner seeking veterinary advice. I would therefore suggest that if your dog’s breath does not improve after attempting any of home dental hygiene measures mentioned above, then I would have him examined by a veterinary surgeon.
Alison Logan, vet

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