Dog Oral Health: Is Your Dog at Risk for Dental Disease?
When it comes to keeping their pups healthy, many people forget one of the most critical parts of canine healthcare—dog oral health. But it’s not just about eradicating bad doggy breath! In addition to preventing the usual plaque and tartar buildup that can affect tooth and gum health, ensuring that you keep up with your doggy’s dental care can also avert some serious health issues like liver sepsis, heart problems, and bone infections.
The good news is that taking care of your pet’s oral hygiene can be pretty easy! We owe it to our dogs to keep them feeling healthy. After all, they give us so much every day!
Check out these dog oral health factors and what you can do to protect your dog’s chompers.
Dog Oral Health Factors
The health of your dog’s teeth depends on a few different things. Some of these include your dog’s breed, diet, and frequency of teeth cleaning visits.
Different dog breeds come with a variety of health risks. For instance, pugs and other brachycephalic breeds tend to suffer from malocclusions, which often present as teeth crowding and misalignment. Small and toy breeds, like Yorkshire terriers, can have what are called persistent baby teeth. These teeth do not fall out and sit on top of the adult teeth that grow underneath them. Labrador retrievers suffer more tooth fractures than other breeds. Be sure to research the common oral health problems associated with your breed so you can better care for your dog.
Diet is also an important factor to consider for dog oral health. The type of food you feed your dog often determines the amount of plaque buildup that occurs. A raw food diet tends to produce less tartar and plaque, although even if you feed your dog kibble, you can offset plaque and tartar buildup with dental chew sticks.
The factor that is the most crucial to dog oral health, however, is how often you take your dog to an oral care professional. A health professional will be able to spot problems as they begin to form, which can save you a lot of money and your dog a lot of pain.
How to Protect Dog Oral Health
Aside from evaluating your dog’s food, visiting a dog oral care professional, and educating yourself about your breed’s common dental problems, you can also do a few other things to ensure that your dog’s oral health is in good shape.
For example, you can start a teeth brushing schedule to minimize the chances of health problems. How often you brush your dog’s teeth depends on a case by case basis. Talk to your veterinarian to see if brushing your dog’s teeth will help.
You can also try changing the type of snacks you feed your dog for being a good boy or girl. Many dogs love fresh foods like apples and carrots, plus these foods are good for dislodging other foods from between your dog’s teeth.
Need to clean up your canine’s pearly-whites? We do non-anesthetic teeth cleanings!