Proper Dental Care for Your Dog

You put a lot into your dog’s health. Make sure you don’t mess up any of your good work by overlooking a vital part of your dog’s wellness regimen:

Dental Care. Dogs accumulate plaque and other germs just the same as humans do and these can pose serious health risks to your dog if left unchecked. Plaque can be carried through the bloodstream causing stroke or cardiac issues, infections can spread, or more serious illnesses can go unnoticed if you do not practise appropriate dental hygiene with your dog.

Weekly visual inspections of your dog’s mouth can go a long way to his/her overall health. Just like you check your dog for lameness or sore spots, check his/her mouth for oral irregularities. You don’t have to be a vet or dentist to know what looks off in your dog’s mouth. If you notice any inflammation, unusual lumps, or an extreme buildup of plaque take your dog to the vet. Assessing, oral cancers and any heart risk is much easier to deal with early on than waiting.

Also, try to ensure your dog gets an annual clean by a veterinary professional. Depending on your dog’s temperament and comfort level, a deep clean may require sedatives or even anaesthesia. While this may seem extreme just to keep some teeth clean, this will allow your vet to remove potentially dangerous tartar build-up, notice any suspicious tumours not visible with regular inspection, or remove any abscessed teeth.

Finally, try to keep your dog’s teeth as clean as possible at home. We’re not saying you need to break the toothbrush out daily (but it certainly wouldn’t hurt anything) but do remove large chunks of food (these can mix with saliva to spread bacteria and lead to plaque/tartar build-up). A little bit of prevention can go a long way in protecting your dog’s overall health.