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Originally Posted by Ellie May  Anything is better than nothing, but it should feel like you're hitting the teeth. Ellie had horrible teeth/periodontal disease/osteomyelitis. Now we brush (almost) daily and she has done well with that (I mean, her teeth...not her as far as cooperating). I don't think I'd even want to be without OraVet though. When scraping, grooves are left in the teeth and they have to be buffed after. Scraping without doing this can potentially cause more harm than good. Unfortunately there are times when pups need dentals twice a year and there arent many ways around it...  |
Thanks for that info. I guess I will NOT be getting a scraper in that case.
Thor has some hard plaque that is raised above the surface of his teeth. He just had his vet visit, and the vet commented on it, but did not recommend a tooth cleaning. On her suggestion, I bought this hugely expensive additive for Thor's water which makes no difference whatsoever as far as I can tell.
He underwent anesthesia last year to have a few baby teeth removed and got his teeth cleaned as well. He was so out of it when he came back that I swore I'd do everything I could to prevent him from going under again... but it's really hard to keep the brushing up when it seems to have so little effect.
FYI, I use a cat toothbrush, and I make sure to brush each tooth. As I understand it, you don't need to brush the insides of them, because they kind of get brushed by the dog's tongue as he licks all the toothpaste up. It does appear to me that the backs of Thor's teeth are much better than the fronts. I pull his lips back and brush each tooth individually, and then I brush his gums.