Dental care for dogs is as easy as ABC. In the fourth part of our #HolisticWellbeing series, we explore how we can ensure healthy teeth and gums in our pups!
Who says that routine dental care is for humans only?
Just like us, our pups suffer from dental issues such as plaque build-up and gum diseases. This can lead to more serious illnesses especially in the later years of your pup’s life. Therefore, it is extremely important to be proactive with your pup’s dental care, just like how we are with our own teeth.
What can we do?
It all starts from the basics – daily teeth brushing!
The best thing is to start early as a puppy for the dog to get used a toothbrush being in their mouth. But it is never too
late to train your dog to get used to it. All it takes is patience and persistence. We recommend you use a baby toothbrush (0-2 years with soft bristles) with a dog toothpaste (no human toothpaste as fluoride is bad for pup) and gently brush their teeth like we would do our own teeth.
Of course, we recommend you brush your pup’s teeth every day!
What is the difference between a dog toothbrush and baby toothbrush?
At Groom Guru, we recommend using a baby toothbrush (0-2 years with soft bristles). Whilst a dog toothbrush is also a viable option to brush your dog’s teeth, in our experience we find baby toothbrush to be a more effective option for two reasons:
Comfort – some dog toothbrushes are designed like finger gloves. However, our fingers are thicker and shorter than baby toothbrush. This means, when brushing the teeth at the back of your pup’s snout, it can be difficult to reach all areas and can result in a very invasive experience, especially if your pup is a smaller-sized dog.
Cost – there are some dog toothbrushes designed similar to human toothbrush. However, they are much more expensive (dog toothbrushes are around £10 vs £1 for a baby toothbrush at Boots!) with no actual improvement in cleaning your pup’s teeth.
What if their gums bleed when I try to brush my pup’s teeth?
This is normal in dogs! Some inherently have gums which are more prone to bleeding when pressure is applied. In our experience, the best way to overcome this is to regularly brush their teeth. After some time, you will notice that their gum do not bleed as often.
What about ultrasonic teeth cleaning?
Ultrasonic teeth cleaning in dogs is done with the specialised ultrasonic toothbrush, which uses an high-frequency vibrations to penetrate deep below the gum line and between the small gaps between the teeth and gum pockets. This removes bacteria, food remains and plaque, and actively reduces gingivitis. Importantly, ultrasonic teeth cleaning minimises stress to your pup as no actual brushing is needed – the innovative ultrasonic technology does all the work!
Overall, it offers the following benefits: stimulation of the vascular system in the gums to heal wounds and stop bleeding, thorough and gentle cleaning without mechanical brushing, high success rate in maintaining oral hygiene and teeth cleaning in dogs, gentle yet efficient cleaning capabilities.
It is important to make sure that ultrasonic teeth cleaning is conducted by an experienced professional, to ensure that the multi-frequency vibrations are applied correctly in the right places. If done improperly, this process may be ineffective in removing bacteria and plaque.
At Groom Guru, our ultrasonic teeth cleaning process involves brushing with the ultrasonic toothbrush and teeth scraping, to kill bacteria and remove hardened, stubborn plaque and tartar build up. We recommend that a monthly ultrasonic teeth treatment combined with your daily dental routine can help you keep all your pup’s pearly whites and overall oral health in top shape!
Click the images to expand!
If you are interested in ultrasonic teeth cleaning, please get in touch with us at contact@groomguru.dog to discuss the best solution, as it is not suitable for all dogs!
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