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Taking care of your dog’s dental health

By Wesley Coburn

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 07: Veterinary staff fit a breathing tube to an Akita dog, ahead of surgery in Battersea Dogs & Cats Home's new Veterinary Hospital and Centre of Excellence on October 7, 2016 in London, England. The new Veterinary Hospital has three operating theatres, enabling staff to perform over 100 operations per week. There is also a new dedicated dental suite to care for the 80 per cent of animals who arrive at the home with problem teeth. Brand new intensive care areas and sound-proofed recovery wards with separate space for dogs and cats will allow for a peaceful and calm recovery. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 07: Veterinary staff fit a breathing tube to an Akita dog, ahead of surgery in Battersea Dogs & Cats Home's new Veterinary Hospital and Centre of Excellence on October 7, 2016 in London, England. The new Veterinary Hospital has three operating theatres, enabling staff to perform over 100 operations per week. There is also a new dedicated dental suite to care for the 80 per cent of animals who arrive at the home with problem teeth. Brand new intensive care areas and sound-proofed recovery wards with separate space for dogs and cats will allow for a peaceful and calm recovery. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) /
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Teeth are important. We humans probably don’t pay as much attention to them, either for ourselves or for our dogs.

But shouldn’t part of being a good dog owner involve making sure that our favorite mutt’s mouth is well cared for as well? Veterinarian Bruce Fogle’s 2002 book Caring for Your Dog: The Complete Canine Home Reference offers some tips and suggestions for basic doggy dental care.

To check on your dog’s teeth, first make them sit, then hold the lower jaw steady with one hand while peeling back the upper and lower lips.

The outside of the teeth should naturally be ultra-white, far whiter than human teeth ever could be. Some puppy antibiotics may stain the teeth yellowish, and serious infection in puppyhood could grow brown stains, but neither of these situations pose very serious health concerns.

The surface of the teeth might be coated with sticky yellowish stuff called plaque, which is a mixture of old saliva, bacteria and germs, which could cause inflammation or infection of the gums.

Plaque can be cleared off with a simple brushing, using plain salt water or specially-formulated dog toothpaste, which can be found at the nearest animal-supply store, or online through sites like Amazon or Chewy.com.  Human toothpaste won’t work because fluoride can be toxic if swallowed in large amounts.

If plaque builds up too much, it can harden into a substance called tartar, which acts as a magnet for further plaque buildup. Tartar removal is something your local vet should do.

If your dog has chronic bad breath (the technical term is “halitosis”), it might be a sign that your dog has a periodontal disease, which should be looked at by a vet.

Fogle states that “virtually all dogs will develop some periodontal disease throughout their lifetime,” but in most cases it won’t be severe. Some breeds, such as Poodles, are genetically more likely to develop periodontal diseases.

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