Dental care really needs to be continuous from the time a dog is young. By the time a dog is geriatric, the effects of dental neglect will be evident and potentially life-shortening. Rotting teeth can cause gum and mouth infections, and these infections can migrate to the vital organs and cause serious damage. Gum (periodontal) [...]

Today old Poochie came in for his annual checkup. Poochie is fourteen years old. He is certainly slowing down a little, but is generally in pretty good health for an old-timer. He usually checks out pretty well except for his teeth. Every year for the last few years, when I [...]

Lane e-mailed me to ask how to get the pooch used to the idea of tooth-brushing. Actually, we want them to accept the actual practice of tooth-brushing in addition to the idea of it [joke: observe the twinkle in my eye, please]. Lane’s second question was about the type of toothbrush you need. [...]

Today we performed dental cleaning on a couple of 10-years old German Shepherds. The tartar on their teeth was pretty thick. One of them lost a molar. The tartar had eroded its attachment to the gums, and it was pretty much falling out, despite being free of cavities. When I [...]