[yorkietalkjilly]

I brush Tibbe's teeth almost every day - I do skip occasional days to give him a little break as I'm always doing something to him from his tooth brushings, ear cleanings, his twice daily eye washing/cleanings to doing his nails once - twice weekly with the Gentle Paws, brushing him, clipping hair from his paw pads, from around his anus and penis/belly area, ear tips, bathing him, etc . He's not lost any teeth since his first dental cleaning a month or so after I first got him when he was 9 mos. old, was only an older pup but had a terrible brown film on his tiny teeth throughout his little mouth, 3 permanent teeth, I think it was, too bad to save and several retained baby teeth that had helped cause his permanent tooth decay. The vet said it was his poor food and dental care where he'd been living that caused that horrible brown film on his little teeth. Once he had his first dental cleaning/tooth extractions, we started desensitizing him to tooth brushings at home - very slowly working up from just touching the toothbrush to his lip for a few days and gradually adding steps to it until he would allow a full-mouth brushing daily and I've brushed them almost every day since. It's paid off - he's not had to have a tooth pulled since and has yearly professional dental cleanings by the vet. He always gets a big celebration, lots of praise and a couple of treats after each tooth brushing session to make it worth it to him.