Concerned about yorkie teeth
 

Our little girl is just about to hit 4 years old and about 8lb.

At the age of 3 and a half, we had to have her teeth cleaned under general anaesthetic since she had a lot of build-up on her teeth (primarily the front ones). Her rear teeth seem to be clean and free of buildup - if we give her a bone, she will gnaw on it with her rear teeth and generally seems to use the back of her mouth more than the front.

Last round of teeth cleaning at the vet she lost an incisor on her lower jaw already.

The build-up on the front teeth got so bad she was developing gum disease, so we had to have her put under general and have her teeth cleaned. We tried brushing her teeth but she will NOT let us do it. I've tried everything - bacon flavoured toothpaste, taking my time doing it slowly, holding her down with the other half brushing - nothing works, she struggles too much.

The build-up has returned just after a few months after the clean-up, as has the rather unpleasant smell and her gums aren't looking too happy either.

The vet has suggested getting her things like cooked chicken necks to eat - he believes the build-up on her front teeth is from her not using them (i.e. she doesn't really have any foods that involve that bite-and-tear style eating).

What else can I to make sure she doesn't end up losing her teeth as she gets older?

Hello and welcome . My Emma is the same age and size as your yorkie . Emma had a dental for the first time 2 weeks ago . Same concern, build up and plaque, stinky breath. She lost 4 incisors on the bottom .

I brush with a baby toothbrush and tooth paste every other day . Know that daily is better but I know that’s hard. I also got a water additive called Healthy Mouth along with a CET enzyme chew she gets 1x a day .

I don’t want the stinky breathe or her to have to loose a handful more of teeth. Annual dentals moving forward.

Ugh, damn Yorkie teeth!

Jackson is 9 and had his 3rd dental this past Nov. He had only ever had 1 removed previously (and one bottom canine had to be shaved down because of an overbite). But this past one he had all six lower incisors pulled. She said once she pulled one, they alllll were decayed and loose and had to go. And she said dogs just don't really need them, luckily, so it wasn't a huge loss -- all considering.

Products I like:

HealthyMouth... they have a water additive and a gel. This is also VOHC approved so has been through trials etc to prove it works. With the water additive, it just goes in her normal water, so no fussing with her mouth.

Petsmile toothpaste. You don't actually have to brush with this toothpaste. You use a q-tip looking thing to rub along the teeth/gums. on the list as well.

I use Purina Dentalife chews which are also on the VOHC approved list. As are Greenies.

Also, I sprinkle Vetriscience Perio powder on the pups food, and sometimes Proden Plaqueoff. I find them to help.

Like you said, Jackson's back teeth always seem good because of chews and bully sticks etc, never had an issue with the back teeth. It's the front ones that he doesn't use that need the most care.

The vet just told me that Zeke needs to have his teeth cleaned but it costs $400. My neighbors say the other vets only cost $200. I just wonder if the $200 cleaning is done as carefully with the anesthesia and how well it is monitored.
If you don't mind my asking, how much do others here pay?

Here in Maryland, I paid close to $700 I believe once all was said and done. We had one visit that was the pre-op bloodwork etc first.

Wow!
 

That's a lotta money for a teeth cleaning.
I think everything in the east costs more though.
My friend in Oklahoma only paid $250 for a cyst surgery and teeth cleaning.
My guess is the $200 vets do less monitoring and blood workups. I'm in the country.
I don't know.
$400 is a lot for me.

Thank you!

First and foremost, I almost cannot *believe* I'm reading your vet has actually suggested a COOKED bone - which is DEADLY! Never, ever, ever give a cooked bone to a dog - not ever! Cooked bones are brittle, fragile - and will splinter into SHARP pieces which can and *will* pierce the intestines and GI system and can kill them.

The *only* kind of bones that are okay for dogs are RMBs (Raw Meaty Bones) - femur bones, rib bones etctera. They are very hard, they have meat on them - and dogs work their jaws and teeth to chew and chew on them -- that's what cleans the teeth some.

*** That said -- if the build-up is really as bad as you say, you're probably going to have to put him under again and have the tarter etc cleaned by the Vet bc you must get under the gums and see what else is going on here.

You need to know why one is so much cheaper. There are things that are a must to do to make sure everything goes well like a pre surgery blood work, an IV cath put in a heated table and that it is someone’s job to just monitor the vitals. Some places won’t do that and that it why they would be cheaper.

I agree about the cooked chicken bones--they could splinter and puncture the digestive tract. If your vet is concerned about the bacteria in raw chicken necks, there are alternatives such as HPP (high pressure sterilized) raw chicken necks available from Primal Pet Foods. See https://primalpetfoods.com/pages/qua...rance-with-hpp and https://primalpetfoods.com/products/...-chicken-necks. The high pressure processing keeps the food raw while killing the pathogenic bacteria.

I never realized how important dental is to the dogs. Both mine just went under and they lost 2 teeth each. But dogs have 42 teeth so the loss of the 2 has not affected them. But I had noticed for the 2 weeks before that Max's personality had "toned down" a little. He is a yapper. In the morning I put some peanut butter in a kong to give them as I walk out the door. Normally as soon as he saw me grab the PB he would start barking and would not stop until I gave him the kong. But lately he had stopped barking. He just watched me. He still ate the PB but he was different. I also noticed that he was not responding to my hand command to bark. Something was wrong. He wasn't lethargic but he just did not seem as energetic as normal. He went for the dental and within 2 days after he was back to normal. I get the PB out and he goes crazy and will not shut up. Now once I even start to raise my hand to give the bark command he starts barking. His energy level is back to normal. My point is that the health of the teeth has a direct correlation to his overall health so please don't ignore the teeth.

:thumbup::thumbup:

Totally agree.

Dogs are pretty stoic and can put up with a lot so sometimes it's hard to pinpoint if anything is wrong at all. It's usually little things like you say.

Jackson is 9 and at his recent cleaning had six pulled and I was so disappointed in myself for lack of care :eek: They were all 6 lower incisors so not a big deal in the long run but it still made me upset at myself.

I heard that raw food can keep their teeth clean. Has anyone here experienced that?

It's a myth that any food can feed teeth clean. It really is all about genetics.

Color me a skeptic.

See 2014 comments by Dr. Jennifer Coates on PetMD, "Dry Food and Dental Disease in Dogs."

She mentions differing results from research about doggy dental issues from 1930's, '40s, '60s, 1996 and 2007 as well as "several recent studies."

The 2007 study "looked at the effects of the size of the kibble in 40 beagles and found that increasing the kibble size by 50% resulted in a 42% decrease in the accumulation of dental tartar."

The beagle study really hit home for me. Our vet gave me a stern talking-to after my late little one's dental, 2004-2005. Based on her bite and the size of her mouth, he selected a kibble for Katy as an alternative the kibble I had been offering and the chicken she loved. I thought his pick was too big...he said it was bigger and that was the point!

The PetMD article talks about recent studies showing "that adding a daily dental chew to diets of dogs fed 'regular' dry dog food results in better oral hygiene than does dry food alone."

We know these little ones are prone to dental issues. If this is multiple choice, I'm going for all-the-above, which includes daily brushing and regular vet dentals, etc.

I have also seen studies where it showed no real effect based on food type. I have seen dogs with bad teeth that were on all different foods. Genetics play the biggest part in teeth. Just feeding a certain food isn't really going to massively effect the teeth.