As far as I know, no dog wants to have its teeth brushed, even when it can feel the worst smelling breath coming out of its mouth. However, using a really good toothpaste product can make this process much easier and also bring the best result to the teeth of your pet.
In this post, we will show you all of the important information on how to clean your dog’s teeth and short reviews on three most popular dog toothpaste products in the market these days.
Why Should You Clean Your Dog’s Teeth?
Do you know that one of the best ways to keep your dog healthy is to brush its teeth every day? Bad breath, in fact, is not the top reason why you should do this. Just like the human, plaque buildup in the mouth of your dog can reflect the accumulation of plaque in the arteries, which can reveal a heart issue or other serious problem. And the best way to clean these harmful substances is brushing your dog’s teeth on a daily basis. While it seems to be a silly habit to perform, it will improve the health of your dog and make it happier.
Can You Use Human Toothpaste For Dogs?
In general, dogs do not rinse or spit – they swallow instead. This means that toothpaste will become food. Unfortunately, most of the toothpaste products for human available on the market these days contain fluoride, which is harmful and hazardous to your dog’s stomach if swallowed. Plus, the foam in normal toothpaste could be also an unpleasant experience for your pet. Let’s have a looks at some information.
About 5 to 10 mg of fluoride per kg is basically fatal to a dog. For a 15-kg pet, this means 75 mg of fluoride would result in some clinical symptoms of illness, or even death.
When you use a human toothpaste strip on the toothbrush head, it contains approximately 2.0 mg of fluoride, meaning that 5 brush-loads would put your pet in serious trouble. So keep in mind to use pet toothpaste for your dog.
Common Methods To Keep Your Dog’s Teeth Clean
Professional Dental Cleaning
For most of us, a professional dental cleaning for our dog could be expensive, but it is also the most effective way. Because pets often do not know if cleaning is good for them or not and cannot sit still, they must be anesthetized during the process to ensure a good result and prevent injuries from occurring. Sometimes, X-rays are essential to make sure that the tooth roots and jaw are healthy.
It is highly recommended to have a dog professional dental cleaning every year.
Chewing Toys
Chewing toys is a good way to help prevent tartar and plaque from accumulating on the teeth of your dog. At the same time, it also fulfills the natural desire of your pet to chew and bite stuff.
There are many types of synthetic chew toys and bones that are specially made to strengthen the teeth and gums of your dog. However, make sure that you are giving a safe object for your pet as hard toys can lead to broken teeth.
Healthy Diet
Some dogs are more vulnerable to tooth decay than others. In these situations, there are a lot of specially produced foods that reduce the buildup of plaque.
In addition, giving your dog dry foods in the diet also prevent these harmful bacteria from sticking to its teeth and causing decay, compared to wet foods.
Benefits Of Using Dog Toothpaste
If you go for the right toothpaste product for your dog, it will:
- Prevent food debris from sticking to the dog’s teeth to form plaque
- Improve gum health
- Change the pH inside the mouth of your dog, making it a much more hostile condition for the development of bacteria
- Kill the bugs and bacteria that turn the plaque into tartar
- Have a long-lasting impact after finishing the brushing
Add up all of these benefits, your dog will have fresher breath, healthier gums, and cleaner teeth. In the long run, it might keep the dog from dangerous diseases related to dental issues, including digestion and heart.
Best Toothpastes For Dogs
1. Virbac CET Poultry Toothpaste
CET Poultry is a very well-accepted brand in the market for pets and also one of the most popular choices for pet owners. An important feature that differentiates this product from other toothpastes is that it contains more amount of enzymes in the formula. This helps stave off bacteria and prevent the accumulation of plaque or tartar, while leaving your dog with fresh smelling breath.
This product is formulated not only for dogs, but cats as well. And your dog would swallow the toothpaste with complete safety as it does not contain any harmful foaming agents.
Pros
- Formulated for cats and dog
- Natural antibacterial action
- Eliminate mouth smell
- No foaming agents
Cons
- The aluminum tub might split or corrode after use
2. Sentry Petrodex Enzymatic Dog Toothpaste
The Sentry Petrodex is another enzymatic toothpaste product, meaning that it is made with enzymes to break down plaque and slow down the buildup of tartar. This product is also produced to combat other dental issues in dogs such as bad smelling breath or yellowing teeth.
To ensure that your dog will love having its teeth brushed, the manufacturer has added a poultry flavor without foaming agents.
Pros
- Poultry flavor
- Effective in controlling plaque
- Safe to swallow
Cons
- Some dogs might not like the tastes
3. Arm & Hammer Advanced Care Enzymatic Toothpaste
As a well-known brand with nearly 150 years of establishment, Arm & Hammer always offers our dogs with the best toothpaste products in the market.
This toothpaste is mainly produced from baking soda and other natural ingredients such as chamomile, green tea leaf extract, glucosamine, and aloe vera. Thus, it is a gentle yet effective product to remove and prevent the accumulation of plaque in your dog’s teeth. Another benefit of baking soda is keeping a healthy pH to avoid bad breath and yellowing teeth.
Your dog would enjoy brushing with this toothpaste as it is designed with a minty smell and a beef taste.
Pros
- Gentle and effective
- Can be used with finger
- Beef flavor
Cons
- Some users are not pleased with its smell
How To Clean Your Dog’s Teeth With Toothpaste
At first, your dog might not want to have its teeth brushed. But after several times, you could make it an enjoyable experience for both. Try to choose a time of the day when your pet does not exercise a lot so that it is more willing to sit still for this process.
Before starting, make sure that your dog is in a relaxed position and will not run away while cleaning. You can pet the dog so that it would feel comfortable and realize that there is nothing to be worried. After that, put a small amount of toothpaste on a toothbrush and start to spread the toothpaste over the teeth of your dog.
Do this slowly and stop if it gets agitated. While brushing, the dog would probably want to lick and eat the paste, so you should try to keep it from doing that. Brush its teeth in a small circle and scrubbing all of the areas in which plaque or tartar has accumulated.
Two areas that you need to pay special attention is the back teeth and the side of the teeth touching the gums because these are where the nasty elements are building up and causing bad breath.
After you have finished brushing, use a damp and clean washcloth to wipe the teeth of your dog. You should also fill up the water bowl so that it can drink the water and wash down the remaining mix on its teeth.
And now say hi to your dog, and he should give you a dazzling, shining smile.
Conclusion
Even though dogs are not prone to cavities as we humans do, they are still liable to the accumulation of tartar and plaque. If you do not treat these problems properly, it will lead to bad breath or yellow teeth. In more serious cases, your dogs would suffer from some fatal diseases, including kidney, liver, or heart illness.
And one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent these issues from occurring and keep your dog healthy is to brush their teeth on a regular basis.No matter what toothpaste product you choose for your dog, it is always important to find out a suitable one that it feels tasty. This will help the process of cleaning your dog’s teeth much easier.
If you have any experiences with toothpaste products or cleaning your dog’s teeth, feel free to share with us in the comment section below. Thank you for reading!