The brushing can be difficult. As you know yorkies are known for bad teeth. I did the brushing as well. It can take a long time for a dog to learn to accept it. Chewing on appropriate chew products is also known to help. There’s also a water additive called happymouth that you can buy at a vet clinic that is approved by whatever vet association and has research behind it that shows that it is helpful. I did all these things with Maezie, but even many of the teeth that appeared nice and clean and white, many of those teeth needed to be extracted cause of bone loss under the gum line that x rays showed. I think it’s really important to look at the health of the gums when being concerned with the teeth. My old boy Bijou, before he passed away, there were a couple times where I was concerned with how dirty his teeth were, but the vet just brushed it off as dirty teeth that weren’t a big concern because his gums were still healthy and pink looking with no gum recession or anything like that. Where with Maezie her gums were always red and inflamed with gum recession and some mobile teeth, etc. I certainly would never have one of my dogs under anesthesia just for a simple cleaning, but rather if there was a number of teeth needing to be removed or some type of serious mouth issues going on.
I say just keep working on it and be consistent. Eventually progress is going to be made. And to be mindful of the health of the gums. And also just remember too that there is a genetic component related to susceptibility of having bad teeth, gingivitis, gum disease, etc. Even if you’re incredibly consistent and do it all the time and the water additive and everything else, Toto may still end up needing a dental procedure done in the future. Some dogs can lose all their teeth at a young age. But it depends a lot on the dog and so many factors. Just don’t beat yourself up if Toto is one of those dogs that is prone to bad teeth. I got lucky with Théo having great teeth and strong healthy gums. He’s 3.5 years old and has never needed a dental and probably won’t for years. He’s got amazing teeth. With Maezie she had a shark mouth when her adult teeth came in, some teeth came in crooked and were basically pockets for plaque, and I was always dealing with inflamed gums and gum recession and loose teeth, etc.
I think it’s unfortunate that yorkies are known for bad teeth, and I think part of the responsibility to fix that lies with the breeders. And there are other factors as well. They are tiny dogs with lots of teeth in a tiny mouth. But there’s no doubt a genetic component related to it. |