Teeth

How they Grow and How to Care for them!

Let’s start with the basics!
Read this entire page so you don’t miss the part on how to brush your dog’s teeth and what to use!

I was going to post on this page about what can happen to your dog if you don’t take care of his teeth, but I think we all know how important 
it is, for not only us but for our dogs too.  So we’ll skip that part.

The newest trend is for you to get your dog, or even your puppy, put under with anesthesia to get his teeth cleaned.  Harmless you may think or you may think, well, this is my veterinarian telling me to do this, he knows what he’s doing.  Not so.

Anesthesia is not without risks and I did recently have a woman call me crying, because her 9 year old dog died of a heart attack after getting the anesthesia.  I am sure hers was not an isolated case.

I sold to a nice couple, in their late 60’s and the man emailed me to ask me what he could do to help with the anesthesia for when they cleaned his puppy’s teeth!  Puppy?  I emailed him back and told him to get a new vet, he never responded back to me.  This puppy did not need his teeth cleaned.

Do your homework and don’t let anyone take advantage of your at the risk of something happening to your dog or even your puppy.  Read this page, there are natural ways to keep their teeth clean, of course there are.  There are natural things for everything and they work.

Puppies, like babies are born without any teeth. 
They start getting their teeth at about 2 weeks of age. 
They will end up with 28 teeth, although these are baby teeth.

The first teeth that will fall out are the incisor teeth,
followed by the premolars and the canines.  
Puppies do not have molar teeth, only premolars. 
Their upper and lower canine teeth are at the back of their mouths and are larger. Their upper and lower incisor teeth are located in the middle.

Grain based dog foods and grain based dog treats cause tartar to
build up in your dog’s mouth and can cause periodontal disease.
Most of the store bought dog foods are loaded with carbohydrates
and this will cause your dog’s body to become acidic instead of alkaline.
We use Apple Cider Vinegar to keep our pets alkaline,
make sure you read about that, it is a great product!

Carbohydrates (grains), found in your dog’s food and treats turn into sugar, and sugar causes increased tartar build up.  
You don’t want them to eat grains anyway,
they were just not designed to digest them!
Make sure you read my Dog Food Page.

85% of dogs two years of age and older have periodontal disease. Although, this statistic, I am sure, is taken from unhealthy dogs who are not raised on grain free foods and are subject to all the things that harm their health, vaccines, heartworm preventatives, antibiotics (drugs), etc…
If you don’t know what I am talking about, please make sure you do some reading on the rest of my website.

If you raise your dog the right way, I am sure this statistic will be much lower.  You do still, however, have to care for your dogs teeth!  Don’t worry, it’s not that hard!

Candys pups August 5 074

There are things you can do to help keep your dogs teeth healthy, yes, brushing his teeth once or twice a week is important, but there are a few things you can add to your dogs diet to help too!

Apples will help remove bacteria and food particles from teeth. 
Just wash, decore, slice and give them to your dog!  They love them!   
(No seeds though, they contain arsenic which is poisonous to dogs.)

Carrots and celery also help remove bacteria and food particles from teeth.

The Importance of Vitamin C in Your Dog’s Diet

Dogs that are deficient in vitamin C can get gingivitis, 
periodontal disease and weakened immunity, 
which means they will have difficulty fighting any infection in the mouth. 

Not only does Vitamin C help build up immunity, 
but is also needed for collagen, which is needed to give the cells strength and elasticity.

Many Fruits are High in Vitamin C 
Try feeding your dog grapefruits, lemons, oranges, tangerines, clementines, any of the melons, berries like blackberry, cranberry, gooseberry, raspberry or strawberry. You would be surprised at how much they love these fruits!

I always think about where dogs came from, they came from the wolf. What did they do about their teeth?  Did they brush them?  I don’t think so.

What they ate took care of their teeth and
what they ate were animals, the meat and bones.  
They rummaged and got some fruits and vegetables too!  They did not go for the grains in the wild, they knew what they needed to survive, meat, fruits and vegetables.  

They not only never got heartworm, but they also never had dental issues. 

Dental problems can be at the root of many dog issues,
so we need to step in and take care of their teeth. Sure, the wolves didn’t brush their teeth, but unless we completely feed them the raw diet, also know as BARF, we need to intervene a bit, even if we are feeding a meat based dog food.

Feed your dog raw bones, preferably organic and grass fed, try Whole Foods or Trader Joes.  
Never feed chicken bones to the small breed dogs,
they have too many sharp pieces, although there are some who claim it is safe. I would rather not take a chance. Just use beef!

The cooked bones are the ones that will splinter,
not the raw ones. Raw bones have enzymes and are found only in the bones in their raw state. Raw bones are good for the bacteria in your dogs mouth.  

The chewing is good for their gums and teeth, 
it will remove plaque and tartar and they will LOVE you for it! It will even help keep their teeth white! Yay!

I recommend doing this twice a week,
although there are many who do this everyday! 
This is far superior to chewing on rawhides or any of the other animal type chewies that are out there.

Male, Cotton

I recommend brushing your dog’s teeth once or twice a week, although if you are feeding a grain based diet, you should brush their teeth everyday.

Please do not use the doggie toothpastes that are out there, it was very difficult for me to find even a single one that had acceptable ingredients in it. Dogs should never have anything with xylitol in it, it is poison to a dog.

Take your doggie toothbrush, put some toothpaste on it and have some fun!  Get a brush that has one at each end, large and small. When you are done brushing, rinse it in hot water and put
a few drops of colloidal silver on it to discinfect it.

I mix up colloidal silver, extra virgin coconut oil and the clay from my website, since it’s the best, and brush.  Clay remineralizes the teeth!

Let’s talk about chewing, you already know that raw bones are good for their teeth, but any chewing is beneficial as well.
I am talking about toys here and please please please, no  “greenies”!

So many companies slap a label like that or “natural” on their label
and we assume it is safe.  Their plan worked, you bought it and it is junk.  

Please do not fall for this.  

No raw hide type bones either, I don’t care if it is an antler or an ear from any type of animal either, it is just not  good for them or okay for them to be chewing on them.  Get some good hard plastic toys for them, look for some with little bumps on them.