Question:
I was told by my groomer and by vet, that my dog has a lot of tartar
and needs teeth cleaning. I've called couple of places for estimated price,
and found it extremely expensive!
Any recommendations for what products I can use to help this problem
myself? I'm wondering how often people really do this procedure in vet
clinics.
Answer:
I know little about this, except to say that our Dog has had his
teeth cleaned at a vet. Frank had to have some teeth removed, in addition
to the cleaning. Either way, the vet usually has to knock the dog out, as
most dogs do not like someone poking around in their mouths for very long,
especially if it not their owner. (Our vet was great, BTW, in that she has
lots of experience with smaller dogs, and knew just how much anesthesia to
administer, so that Frankie got over it very quickly).
From what I understand (and again this is recall from the vet's description
to me) the big issue for the dogs is plaque buildup rather than tooth
decay, and it requires scraping the plaque off the teeth, just like for us.
Frankie had to go on a weeks worth of antibiotics afterward. I can't recall
if this was specifically because he had teeth removed (which the vet
usually decides based on whether the tooth is loose or not, something hard
to tell until he/she is in there working on them) or just because of the
cleaning. One of the two (or maybe both) led to a chance of infection,
given the exposure of his blood vessels in the mouth, etc.
If you are in an area with more than one vet, why not call to a second to
get an estimate. I can't find the receipt from when Frank had his done, but
it was somewhere between $100-$200 dollars, including the extraction of
several teeth up front (his previous owners clearly had neglected these)
and the antibiotics.
I would suggest having the procedure done before your dog runs into
permanent health damage (if it hasn't already) and investigate brushing
and regular home maintenence as your teeth cleaning skills develop
after.
It is most important to have your dog's teeth examined by a vet. Dental
disease is a major chronic health problem in senior dogs. It is preventable
and if left untreated can lead to major organ failure. Dog's front teeth
often look clean but any signs of bad breath, red gums, and yellow plaque on
back teeth, loss of interest in chewing are signs of dental disease. The
plaque causes inflammation of the gum (gingivitis) and inflammation of soft
tissue and ligaments surrounding the teeth (periodonitis) eventually causing
the teeth to fall out. A bacterium on the teeth enters the blood stream and
can infect vital organs, such as the liver and kidneys, causing them to
fail. If your vet suspects infection he will prescribe a course of
anti-biotics and will later, after a blood panel has been done, clean and
remove infected teeth under anaesthetic.
perhaps if the dog is cleaned first, gets the infection under control
with antibiotics, and starts under a SUPERVISED program. raw lamb bones
shattered when my dog chewed them. KNuckle bones ended up swallowed
whole (small cow) and took from october to january to pass .. teeth
cleaning would have been cheaper than the price of the 3X weekly xray
die studies for months, insuring he wasn't impacted.
I thought it was a joke of some sort when I first heard of dogs having their teeth cleaned then was amazed to see dog toothpaste and
brushes in a local supermarket. Thought it was something only crazy yanks did but it seems to be creeping over here too.
