Doing a lot of reading and asking a retired vet friend I probably would ever spend the buck for the cleaning. He said it is common that alot of dog will never really need teeth cleaning. And if they do it may be something they really only need ever few years. You can tell by the color and how they look as to weither you might need to something. He also said it is one of those high profit areas for most vets. Unless your dog has problems and needs a cleaning he suggest not doing them at all just clean them at home and use the teeth chews.
I know I never took my other yorkie in. At a average 200 a pop and the problem you can have from it and the fact that her teeth with a weekly cleaning it wasnt worth it to me. She never had a problem with any teeth or bad breath.
Now as for this pooch, he only has bad breath if he has eaten something that is not something he should eat if you know what I mean...
I clean his teeth once a month and give him chew sticks and the teeth treats and keep an eye on the teeth. If I would see a problem then I would try cleaning it myself with the brush or maybe then do something about it.
There is nothing funnier than a toothless pooch...