# Petrodex toothpaste - mostly sugar?



## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

I just took the time to read the ingredients in the Petrodex toothpaste I've been using. First ingredient: sorbitol (sweetener), water, dicalcium phosphate.

That doesn't sound right. Why sorbitol - just to make the dog like it more.

Errr...what's going on!


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## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

Ingredients in C.E.T:

Active Ingredients: Glocuse Oxidase, Lactoperoxidase. Also contains: Sorbitol USP/NF, Purified Water USP, Di-Calciuim Phosphate Anhydrous, Hydrated Silica, Glycerine, Poultry Digest, Dextrose, Xanthan Gum, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Thiocyanate.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Well, sorbitol isn't sugar, really, so it won't encourage tooth decay. The majority of human toothpastes are mostly made of sweeteners as well. There's also one sweetener that has some kind of decay-preventing qualities. . .maybe sorbitol? I'll look it up.

ETA: nope, it's xylitol I was thinking of. . .and it's highly toxic to dogs.


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## flipgirl (Oct 5, 2007)

I use Dentacetic dental gel. It's by Dermapet. It's made with.acetic acid (aka vinegar). It also has.cinnamon flavour beads. It works well. I dont know if I trust pet store brands.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Sorbitol is not toxic in small quantities, but dogs don't need sweeteners to eat chicken, beef, or peanut butter flavors. I speculate that the sorbitol is to satisfy the owners who want to know what they're feeding their babies. ewwwww


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## hast (Aug 17, 2011)

Why not give the dog a bone?


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## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

hast said:


> Why not give the dog a bone?


Part of it is my own doubt about how bones clean teeth. I know a lot of people swear by it, but I'm not sure what the explanation is. I think people who feed raw bones diet get really good dental results, but I wonder if that's mostly because raw meat doesn't cause plaque. So the good results in a raw diet is because of the lack of plaque causing corn/sugars that are in commercial diets.

Granted, I've also heard people who feed commercial dry kibbles claim that regularly giving the dog a bone cleans the teeth. I could understand that it helps to clean some of the teeth, but I don't understand how it cleans the outside surfaces of the teeth along the gum lines. It doesn't seem like the curvature of bones can get there.

Could just be my lack of imagination, so I might be wrong.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

btw Glucose oxidase isn't sugar (glucose) - it's an enzyme.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Yeah, human toothpaste is flavored and sweetened for our enjoyment too, so I don't really understand the problem. As far as the raw bones, I think it is both a combination of dogs having better teeth when they aren't eating sugars (carbs) and ALSO the fact that raw meat and bones are flexible and a dog has to really work at them to get the meat off, or to dry and crunch up the bone and this causes the meat and bone to rub on the teeth a lot. It's really the same reason that brushing is good for the dog's teeth...just something running across the teeth, breaking up the tartar and strengthening the gums.

I brush Sydney's teeth and also use Petzlife oral gel. Seems like the Petzlife softens the tartar so it can be slowly removed when I brush. And the toothpaste helps maintain clean teeth longer. I'd give raw bones but we hardly ever buy meat here, so my bf gets pissy when I say I want to buy some for the dog. I figure I'll pick my battles and keep up her dental hygiene through brushing instead.


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## hast (Aug 17, 2011)

I was out traveling for about 3 months and my dog was at my son's, with his Dobie bitch. Since they're two very powerful dogs ... and his dog guards resources they can't have bones or chew toys. When I came to pick Mandy up her teeth was brown. I kid you not. completely totally brown. I got her bones and it didn't take more than a couple of weeks chewing bones and her teeth are crisply white to the point that the vet points out what nice teeth she has when we're there.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Your dog has a nice smile !

I brush my 11 yo dog's teeth every other day and my Vet want to use pix of his gums as an example. His teeth are no longer as white as Hast, and he has one or two cosmetic stains, but his gums are immaculate.

On the other hand, my dentist feeds his dog a normal diet, but gives his dog a raw turkey neck every week, which seems to work just fine. My Vet did not recommend the practice for me, because of the small potential for bone pieces that require surgery. She did agree that raw bones usually don't cause a problem, but she thoght the risk wasn't worth it. Altho not a strong warning, I chose to listen.


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## chubby (Aug 18, 2011)

dogclass said:


> Part of it is my own doubt about how bones clean teeth. I know a lot of people swear by it, but I'm not sure what the explanation is. I think people who feed raw bones diet get really good dental results, but I wonder if that's mostly because raw meat doesn't cause plaque. So the good results in a raw diet is because of the lack of plaque causing corn/sugars that are in commercial diets.
> 
> Granted, I've also heard people who feed commercial dry kibbles claim that regularly giving the dog a bone cleans the teeth. I could understand that it helps to clean some of the teeth, but I don't understand how it cleans the outside surfaces of the teeth along the gum lines. It doesn't seem like the curvature of bones can get there.
> 
> Could just be my lack of imagination, so I might be wrong.


A part of it is that it's just meat and bone, so you're not getting any carbs/sugars/weirdly textured things getting in there.
The majority of the explanation of why it cleans is because of the scraping action that goes along with chewing a bone. If you ever examine a bone after giving it to a dog, you'll see these long teeth marks that cover the bone, so as the bone is being broken and chewed, the teeth are also getting 'scraped' at some level.


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## chubby (Aug 18, 2011)

kafkabeetle said:


> Yeah, human toothpaste is flavored and sweetened for our enjoyment too, so I don't really understand the problem. As far as the raw bones, I think it is both a combination of dogs having better teeth when they aren't eating sugars (carbs) and ALSO the fact that raw meat and bones are flexible and a dog has to really work at them to get the meat off, or to dry and crunch up the bone and this causes the meat and bone to rub on the teeth a lot. It's really the same reason that brushing is good for the dog's teeth...just something running across the teeth, breaking up the tartar and strengthening the gums.
> 
> I brush Sydney's teeth and also use Petzlife oral gel. Seems like the Petzlife softens the tartar so it can be slowly removed when I brush. And the toothpaste helps maintain clean teeth longer. I'd give raw bones but we hardly ever buy meat here, so my bf gets pissy when I say I want to buy some for the dog. I figure I'll pick my battles and keep up her dental hygiene through brushing instead.


I think it bothers me a bit because we don't ingest our toothpaste...dogs do. I've always been more prone to feeding RMDs because I'm a great believer that when you put something in your body enough times, it will start to make some kind of impact, even if the amount of the ingredient is minimal.

I think if my dog is 3 years old, and has plaque despite being fed RMD's, I'll start looking into brushing teeth as an option, and for now just doing a lot of handling exercises to get them used to it in case we have to go that route.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

chubby said:


> I think it bothers me a bit because we don't ingest our toothpaste...dogs do. I've always been more prone to feeding RMDs because I'm a great believer that when you put something in your body enough times, it will start to make some kind of impact, even if the amount of the ingredient is minimal.
> 
> I think if my dog is 3 years old, and has plaque despite being fed RMD's, I'll start looking into brushing teeth as an option, and for now just doing a lot of handling exercises to get them used to it in case we have to go that route.


Do your dogs get kibble or treat containing grains, potato, peas, etc? If they do, it's going to do more harm than the small amount of sugar their body absorbs from sorbitol. All carbohydrates are absorbed as sugar.


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## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

So i dug up an old bottle of petrodex

Ingredients:sorbitol, purified water, dicalcium phosphate, hydrated silica, glycerin, artificial beef flavor, poultry digest, dextrose, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate, aspergillus niger fermentation extract

For an "enzymatic toothpaste" it's noticeably devoid of enzymes. Pretty much everything on the list are just "inactive ingredients" used typically in toothpaste. Well technically I guess the last ingredient on the list is a source of some enzymes since a. niger is used for various enzyme supplements.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

zhaor said:


> So i dug up an old bottle of petrodex
> 
> Ingredients:sorbitol, purified water, dicalcium phosphate, hydrated silica, glycerin, artificial beef flavor, poultry digest, dextrose, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate, aspergillus niger fermentation extract
> 
> For an "enzymatic toothpaste" it's noticeably devoid of enzymes. Pretty much everything on the list are just "inactive ingredients" used typically in toothpaste. Well technically I guess the last ingredient on the list is a source of some enzymes since a. niger is used for various enzyme supplements.


Just because it's the last ingredient doesn't mean it's not a useful product. I don't personally know what a normal "dosage" of that enzyme would be, but often active ingredients make up only a small portion of all sorts of useful products. For instance, there is only a small amount of flouride in human toothpaste, because it can be toxic if too much is ingested.

Do you know of any alternatives that are better, with more enzymes/less sugar substitutes? I haven't been able to find one myself, but I'm open to the possibility that one exists.


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## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

oh i don't know much about toothpastes at all but I just found the ingredients list interesting.

I'm not particularly surprised that it's at the end of the ingredients list like you said. I mostly found it interesting that it doesn't even officially lists any enzymes at all. It just lists something that probably contains enzymes.

NV instinct kibble also contains A. niger fermentation extract, doesn't mean I trust it to clean teeth. Granted it's used there is to possibly provide different enzymes for digestion. I would think that using petrodex to brush is probably better than just brushing with water but if I were to buy toothpaste now, I would probably still prefer a toothpaste that actually lists the enzymes instead of simply implying their existence.

I haven't taken biology or chemistry in a long time but I do wonder if there are negative side affects of too much enzyme. It seems less likely for toothpaste since the enzymes are mostly to act as an antimicrobial, but i don't know.


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