How Often Should I Brush My Dog’s Teeth?

Most people and some veterinarians will tell you to have your dog’s teeth brushed every other day or at least once a week. I happened to be another guilty one who occasionally tell folks the same advice. It’s not totally incorrect to say that, sometimes I just find it easier to give a quick answer than to dig into their dogs’ situation.

Here are the 4 situations to look at to determine just how much teeth cleaning your dog needs.

1. Dog’s Diet. Dogs on dry kibbles tend to have less plaque build up as kibbles are slightly abrasive compare to canned food. But in no means you can avoid brushing your dog teeth—you still need to but less frequent. However if the kibbles are completely soaked, it won’t make much difference than feeding your dog wet food. I know this can be quite impossible for some senior dogs with few missing and/or loose teeth. What you can do is to add some warm water for few seconds before draining them out with a sieve, just don’t serve your dog soaked kibbles.

For those dogs on a BARF diet, it is said that they require less teeth cleaning. To a certain extend, I believe so. Their main diet consists of raw meat and bones, so naturally dogs require more chewing before chowing down the food.

2. Chewing Habits. Chewing bones or toys a few times each week will greatly assist a dog’s dental hygiene.

Many small dog owners often make the mistake of not offering raw bones when they are young puppies. If puppies are not given the opportunity to chew raw bones from a very young age, as adult they will often ignore bones or even any chew toys at all. To them, it’s much easier to wait for their normal meal than having to work their teeth. True, at a very young age the most a puppy will do to a bone is to give it a nasty suck—just remember that the puppy is learning a valuable dental hyigene lesson.

For those who don’t want to go that far out of giving raw bones to their dogs, there are always alternative ways to reduce brushing your dog’s teeth. Introduce chew toys like Dental Floss Chew or Nylabone Double Action Dental Chew (highly recommended).

3. Dog Breeds. As to why smaller breed dogs require more dental care than bigger dogs do, it always a mystery to me. Given the fact that they have the same diet and similar skull structure (Mesocephalic), my golden retrievers rarely need any brushing as much as my Malteses do. A check with my veterinarian friends, they also confirm that small dogs do make up their largest clienteles when comes to ultrasonic tooth scaling.

So it is correct to say that some dogs do require regular brushing than other breeds. Pay extra attention if you have small dog with short muzzle (brachycephalic). Such as..

• Pug
• Pekingese
• Japanese Chin
• King Charles Spaniels
• Shih Tzu
• Lhasa Apso
• French Bulldog
• Boston Terrier

Another area you might want to check if their milk teeth (dog’s first year) are completely shed off. If retained, these can lead to overcrowding, which cause food to be caught between the teeth, allowing a build-up of bacteria.

4. Dog’s Metabolism. Metabolism plays a significant role because some dogs of the same breed and on the same diet will vary in their need to have their teeth regularly brushed or scaled. Similarly with all things made equal, only two of my Malteses need daily cleaning. The rest only require a weekly dental care.

Some dogs will produce more acidic saliva while others more alkaline saliva. There will also be a variation in the concentration of salts and calcium ions in the saliva itself. These ions are deposited on the teeth forming tartar, so varying concentrations will mean varying degree of build up of tartar.

As you can see here, there is no one rule to fit over 100 dog breeds and certainly no two dogs under the same care will share the same predicament. Whether you have one dog or many dogs, it’s good to make it a habit to check their teeth every other day. You don’t have to brush them if it doesn’t call for, instead give them a treat for allowing you to check on them. This is to get your dog used to the feeling of having his mouth checked—especially for those dogs who didn’t start this cleaning ritual at puppy stage.