Hi, I’m Dr. Mike and this Mandy and Lola. And today we’d like to demonstrate the proper technique for brushing your pet’s teeth.
A lot of times on a routine patient exam, clients will ask, “Do I really need to brush my pet’s teeth?” And my answer is simple, “Yes you do.” Gingivitis and tartar can advance to another stage called periodontal disease or even form dental abscess.
This is important because these infections can actually spread systemically to other major organs including the heart valves, the liver, and even the kidneys. So it becomes very important that we learn to keep a routine, management or monitoring our pet’s mouth. And I want to teach you how to do that.
First of all, I want you to get in to the habit of looking in to your pet’s mouth. I want you to know what is normal. So we can look at their teeth, we can smell their breath, and we can even open their mouth if their going to let you.
This is good to begin in the habit of because once you learn what normal is, then if something changes; a broken tooth, reddening of the gum which is called gingivitis, or even a growth or some other change, or even simply their breath changes. These are things that if you notice, you want to bring it to the attention of your veterinarian.
There are a couple of things we need for brushing their teeth. Of course we need toothpaste. We want to use pet-approved toothpaste. Don’t use human toothpaste okay? They come in a variety of flavors. From malt flavors to mint to poultry and you wan to find which one your pet likes because if they like the flavor of it, it’s going to make an enjoyable experience for them and easier it is for you. You’re going to like doing it and then we can do it on a routine basis. So that’s very important.
The second thing is we’re going to want a toothbrush designed for pets. Again, the size of your pet will make a difference. There are toothbrushes that are large for big dogs. This one is nice because it has two sizes on it. There are some that are small for medium size or smaller dogs.
And so, when we get a toothbrush, we’re going to put a little toothpaste on here and we’re going to see how Lola likes it. So since she’s small, we’re going to go ahead and use the smaller end of the toothbrush here.
Some specialists now believe that the better way or more efficient is to go in a straight path. So let’s go ahead and get started. So we’re going to try it with Lola here.
Now again, we get back in here and you just need to do the outside of the teeth okay? And it works pretty quick getting it on here the tongue will take care of what’s on the inside so we don’t need to worry about that which makes it a lot easier to clean the teeth. Secondly, 96% of tartar actually is on the outside of the teeth so that’s what we want to focus with. Lola loves this flavor. This is poultry. She loves it.
So that’s how we brush our teeth. It’s very simple, it’s very fast. The key is doing it on a routine maintenance. I recommend doping it daily and most specialist do. if you’re only doing it once a week or once a month, it’s not going to do anything. Daily is the key.
I also want to let you know that there’s a couple other things we can do for cleaning the teeth. First and foremost, brush teeth daily. You must remain committed. Dental diet, there are special diets that can be mixed with your pets current food to maintain good dental health. Gels can be applied weekly tom prevent bacteria from sticking to the teeth. There are drinking water additives that might help fight plaque and also chew toys. But ask your veterinarian for their approval before using.
I hope that this information has been helpful. Thank you for watching.
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