How important is dental health to your dog's overall wellbeing and what, if anything, should you be doing to look after your pets' teeth?
The short answer is maintaining your pets' oral health is "an absolute necessity" as Dr Sam Jones, veterinarian and founder of Redland City / Quandamooka Country practice My Local Vet, explains.
"Dogs and cats are no different to humans in the sense that substandard oral health will compromise the health of other organs — the heart, liver, kidneys — because bacteria is constantly migrating into the blood vessels," Dr Jones says.
"There are preventative techniques that you can implement at home to try to slow down the accumulation of plaque and calculus [tartar] on [dogs'] teeth, but nothing will replace the need to have their teeth professionally de-scaled and polished," Dr Jones says.
Brushing your dog's teeth
Outside of a visit to the vet, the most effective way to remove plaque from your dog's teeth is by brushing them.
"The gold standard is to brush their teeth twice daily," Dr Jones says, warning that you can't use human toothpaste because it contains xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol found in plants, which can cause liver toxicity in dogs.
Melbourne / Naarm-based vet Dr Fiona Patterson agrees, explaining that regular toothpastes contain foaming agents, fluoride and other active ingredients that are meant to be spat out after brushing.
"[Dog] toothpaste doesn't foam up like ours does, it's just a nice paste that allows the bristles to move around to help start to get some of the plaque off the teeth," Dr Patterson says.
"They'll make them flavoured too, like beef flavoured or chicken flavoured, so that helps get the pet to accept it, because it tastes nice [for them].
"A toothbrush and some pet toothpaste will last you quite a long time, so that's probably the most cost-effective way [to look after their teeth], but it's only good if you can do it."
Dr Jones says some dogs may have an aversion to having their teeth brushed due to experiencing dental pain in the past, "but I believe the vast majority of dogs will — if the client is educated around how to train them — be trainable to have their teeth brushed".
What to consider if you choose dental chews
Although brushing your dog's teeth regularly is the most effective way of looking after them, "the reality is, when we survey people, hardly anyone's doing it", says Dr Patterson.
"So, we've got to then think, well, what's easier?"
Dr Jones says although "the comparison between brushing the teeth and everything else is pretty significant", prescription dental diets may help slow down the recurrence of the dental disease, and some brands of dental chews also work well.
"There's a lot of science behind them, and I have seen firsthand the improvement in the calculus on dog's teeth as a result of using them," he says.
If you're using dental chews, toys, or gels, Dr Jones warns "none of them will clean all of the teeth".
"[Dogs are] only going to use the teeth that they used to chew, they won't work on their incisors and they certainly won't clean their canines or molars, so there's limitations to all of those things."
What about bones?
Dr Jones, says he "no longer recommend[s] bones for dogs due to the fact that they can cause fractured teeth and constipation".
But check with your vet what they suggest for your dog, and if you do give bones, Dr Patterson says they should never be cooked.
"Some people can give big, raw, meaty bones and they can be OK, but there are risks," she says.
Are some dog breeds at greater risk of dental problems?
Brachycephalic breeds — those with shortened skulls such as French and English bulldogs, pugs, chihuahuas and boxers — and other small breeds of dogs such as toy poodles are more susceptible to dental disease, because they have the same number of teeth as larger dogs but a smaller space to fit them in.
"People love these breeds, but we are breeding dogs that are then very susceptible to many health problems, [and] dental disease is definitely one of them," Dr Patterson says.
Dr Jones says these breeds often end up with "teeth that are rotated [and] overcrowding of teeth”.
"And the overcrowding tends to catch food particles, and when the food particles get caught, then the bacteria thrive in the little micro-environments in between the teeth.
"Greyhounds don't have the same overcrowding issue, but it seems that they are very much predisposed to the development of calculus and periodontal disease," he adds.
There's no substitute for proper clinical care
Dr Jones says dogs should be assessed by a vet and have their teeth professionally de-scaled and polished once a year, which involves general anaesthetic, X-rays, intravenous fluids and proper medical supervision.
"We can't thoroughly examine a pet's oral health without probing around every tooth and X-raying their mouth … and neither of those things can you do in a conscious animal," he says.
"The polishing process is actually not a cosmetic one, it removes microscopic fragments of calculus that remain on the teeth after de-scaling; the only way to thoroughly remove all of the calculus off the teeth is by doing the polishing process as well."
He concedes there is always some risk when putting an animal under general anaesthetic, but in an otherwise healthy animal without pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or liver disease "the risk of a complication is actually quite a small risk".
When a dog has a health condition such as a sore paw or an itch, an owner will notice them limping or scratching, but Dr Jones says pets experiencing considerable dental pain often show no overt signs of illness
"What we do see, is that when we treat that painful dental disease — typically that would be extractions or something similar — is that once they have recovered from that procedure, their demeanour shifts significantly, and they're either much more energetic or brighter or some owners will say they just look different in their facial expression, they just seem happier and more relaxed."
