I found this article on the Honest Kitchen website and I found it rather interesting regarding their teeth. It also explains why I think many commercial dogs foods may aid in the cause of tarter buildup.. Made me think
And speaking from experience I work for a lady who feeds her boarder collie Iams. He is 2 and his teeth are HORRIBLE! He needs a cleaning badly because every tooth is covered in tarter... I am not sure its the cause of tarter but after I read this article I bet to wager its a high possiblity...
Honest Kitchen Article:
Many pet food manufactures promote their dry, crunchy kibble products as capable of cleaning the teeth. There are a couple of flaws with this claim. The first is that in the majority of cases, dogs and cats don’t actually even crunch up their kibble with their teeth. Have you ever seen your animal companion vomit or regurgitate his kibble? Almost without exception, that kibble returns to the world in the exact same form as it was consumed – round pellets. There’s no way they could have cleaned the teeth because they were never even chewed, and simply got swallowed whole!
Secondly, most kibbles are so laden with processed simple carbohydrates, that any that is chewed will actually impact starches and sugars into the gum-line, thus increasing the likelihood of periodontal disease over the long term. In contrast, most home prepared diets do not seem to contribute to the same levels of tartar buildup as processed dry foods and a fresh, minimally processed
pet food diet causes almost no tartar buildup in most cases.