How often do your dogs have their teeth cleaned at the vets?

[slleipnir]

Mine never get theirs cleaned I recently had Zeke in for an appointment, and 2 of his molars at the back of his mouth had quite a bit of buildup. I asked if he should get a cleaning and the vet said he only has the 2 teeth needed to be cleaned and it doesn't make sense to put him under for that. So he decided to try scraping them while he's awake to see if he's tolerate it...Zeke didn't seem to mind at all. He was such a good boy. Most of the stuff to scraped off and saved getting them cleaned. I don't think he even charged me for it!

[buttercup132]

If your dogs chew lots of bones won't they not need their teeth done?
I thought I heard that when reading about raw somewhere.
I know .Sara's dogs teeth are gorgeous!

[Catlady711]

The American Veterinary Dental College has a great website. It has some terrific info on pet dental health, particularly this article here.

http://www.avdc.org/position-statements.html#cadswa

The also have links to find a certified veterinary dentist in your area and they can do things like crowns and fillings like human dentists can do for the owners that don't want teeth pulled if they can be saved.

[shepgirl]

We feed raw and the dogs chew plenty of bones so I've never had any dog's teeth cleaned, they don't need it.

[.sarah]

If your dogs chew lots of bones won't they not need their teeth done?
I thought I heard that when reading about raw somewhere.
I know .Sara's dogs teeth are gorgeous!

Thanks Alicia I've been feeding raw for more than two years now and my dog's teeth are gorgeous as ever. Mandy had her teeth cleaned shortly before I started raw because she needed one pulled, and they still look like they were just cleaned. Luka has some staining from her kibble days, but no tartar build up. Buck (besides a little staining) and Nova have very white teeth since they've been eating it since they were young (Nova was 11 months and Buck was 7 weeks when I started feeding it).

I still remember my vet-tech friend watching Buck when he was around 3 months and saying "well have fun paying for a dental when he's one" Uhhh, no, the bones do a great job of cleaning his teeth. He has a little bit of staining from when I had to feed him canned food for 2-3 weeks after an obstruction surgery at 10 months old. If I had brushed his teeth during that time, he would still have bright white teeth. They got some massive tartar build up in only those few short weeks but the bones knocked it right off when I started feeding them again. The stains stayed though, unfortunately.

I never feed bones (hard ones like marrow and knuckle) as recreation, because I'm too afraid to. I did it twice and both times one of the dogs chipped a tooth (not bad, just a little chip). It was enough to scare me to not feed them again. Those bones are too hard for aggressive chewers, in my opinion. I feed meat-covered bones 2-4 times a week - usually chicken, turkey, or pork (and beef ribs for Mandy, but she doesn't eat them, just cleans the meat off of them) - and that is enough to keep them sparkling white.