Brushing Your Pet’s Teeth

We know this may sound a bit silly.  We couldn’t be more serious.  Brushing your pet’s teeth on a regular, daily basis is probably the most important step you can take to keep your pet’s mouth and teeth healthy and strong and stop the onset of gingivitis and progression of periodontal disease.  To put it another way, brush your pet’s teeth so they won’t feel the pain or discomfort of periodontal disease.  Or, think of it as saving money by avoiding an expensive periodontal treatment or oral surgery.  Once we add extractions and root canals to a dental teeth cleaning, it can be very expensive (several hundreds of dollars more).  Keep it simple.  Keep your pet’s teeth healthy so you only need to have the dental teeth cleaning.

Here’s What You’ll Need to Get Started

• Patience and commitment.  Stick with it.
• A very soft bristle tooth brush, preferably one made for dogs and cats.  Ask us for details.
• A tooth paste formulated for pets.  This pet tooth paste has flavors they like and it’s safe for them to swallow.  Do not use human tooth paste – it could be dangerous for your pet and it foams.
• Start by introducing your pet to the concept of you sticking your finger or a brush into their mouth.
• You can wrap some gauze around your finger to hold the tooth paste in place.
• Just focus on a small area to clean at first.
• Give lots of positive praise and rewards.
• After you’ve performed this step for a week, then work to clean all the teeth.
• Use one hand to hold the top of your pet’s mouth open while the other hand cleans the teeth.
• This process should take about 30 seconds to 1 minute to complete.
• Make it an evening ritual and get the kids involved.
• Ask us for a demonstration the next time you’re in for an annual exam.
• We’ll have a video demonstration on our site as soon as possible.

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