# Dental water/food additives



## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Can anyone give me the scoop on these and recommend brands that are safe and have worked for you personally? I'm wanting to try an additive in addition to brushing since I have a hard time keeping her very back teeth free of tartar. I'm really paranoid about dental issues because our family lab could hardly eat in his final years due to bad dental care. But I've also read about the dangers of xylitol and thought it would be worth finding out more about it. 

Oh, and formulas which can be added to food would be nice to hear about as well, since I could use it for our cat who doesn't drink water. Thanks for any input!

EDIT: I'm leaning towards Proden Plaqueoff. Has anyone tried this?


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## KBLover (Sep 9, 2008)

I'm curious about this as well.

Hopefully, you'll get some advice/recommendations.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

We've used Pet Dental's Liquid Dog Tartar Remover before. I can't say it works to get tartar off the teeth but it does seem to reduce bad breath quite a lot in our Cavalier. 

She drinks the water like normal and we haven't had any problems with it so far. One bottle lasts FOREVER since you only use a few drops in the water. It's really minty and smells pretty good.

We've been recommended Proden Plaqueoff before but we didn't buy it because it was really expensive. We just use raw bones and teeth brushing to reduce plaque.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> We've used Pet Dental's Liquid Dog Tartar Remover before. I can't say it works to get tartar off the teeth but it does seem to reduce bad breath quite a lot in our Cavalier.
> 
> She drinks the water like normal and we haven't had any problems with it so far. One bottle lasts FOREVER since you only use a few drops in the water. It's really minty and smells pretty good.
> 
> We've been recommended Proden Plaqueoff before but we didn't buy it because it was really expensive. We just use raw bones and teeth brushing to reduce plaque.


Thanks for sharing your experience! Sydney tends to not like minty things (we've tried a minty toothpaste before) and I wouldn't be able to use it for Olive because she hardly ever drinks water. Good to know that it's worked for you, though.

According to the reviews on Amazon, Plaqueoff isn't as expensive as it seems because you use so little each day. One review said the dosing scoop was smaller than their pinky nail. I also discovered that they make a human version in pill form. I found that pretty interesting. And it doesn't contain xylitol, just some blend of algae, minerals and some other stuff. I think when I get paid I'm going to give it a whirl and report the results back here.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

The price is really not bad at all on Amazon. Our other 2 dogs Truffles and Pop live in England and they were charging us £27 (equivalent to almost $45 USD) per container. 

I don't use either of the plaque reducing items for my own dog Nia, she doesn't have plaque lol due to rigorous brushing and giving her lots of chews.

Oh I just remembered another thing that has good recommendations by a lot of ppl on this forum. It's Petzlife Oral Gel I believe that's what you call it? Apparently it tastes pretty nasty to dogs but you rub it on their teeth. After a few weeks you can just use your nail to pry the plaque off the dogs' teeth. They also make a spray that helps to keep plaque off I believe.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> Oh I just remembered another thing that has good recommendations by a lot of ppl on this forum. It's Petzlife Oral Gel I believe that's what you call it? Apparently it tastes pretty nasty to dogs but you rub it on their teeth. After a few weeks you can just use your nail to pry the plaque off the dogs' teeth. They also make a spray that helps to keep plaque off I believe.


Yeah, I actually have some Petzlife around here somewhere but Sydney HATES it. It's funny that it's supposed to be Salmon flavored but it smells like alcohol to me. I think I'm going to start using it again just until I can get those back teeth cleaned up. She's going to hate me.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

We use Petzlife oral gel here. Not gonna lie, I only use it for molars. Those are the problem teeth in most dogs, IMO/E. Giving my dogs good bones does ZIP for their molars.

I use the Salmon flavored gel. It stinks to high heaven...Mirada loves it. It does have grain alcohol in it.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Xeph said:


> I use the Salmon flavored gel. It stinks to high heaven...Mirada loves it. It does have grain alcohol in it.


Lucky.

Well, I tried the Petzlife again and she didn't like it, but certainly wasn't as dramatic as she used to be about it. I assume that's because she's more used to me messing around with her mouth now, since she's been having her teeth brushed daily (or close!) for the past 8 months or so. I'm gonna use up the bottle I've already got, then I'll order the other stuff, which she'll hopefully like better.


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## sachi (Sep 20, 2010)

I've been using Proden Plaqueoff for a while now - Some people love it, it has great reviews - but it doesnt seem to be working for my papillons... I give it to them EVERY day but the vet still wants to a dental on one of my dogs. I need to find something else


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

sachi said:


> I've been using Proden Plaqueoff for a while now - Some people love it, it has great reviews - but it doesnt seem to be working for my papillons... I give it to them EVERY day but the vet still wants to a dental on one of my dogs. I need to find something else


Aw, too bad. I wonder if it would help in addition to brushing? Idk, depending on our results in the next few weeks I might just stick with Petzlife and brushing. I've been using it daily for about a week now, so hopefully in a couple more I'll be able to make a judgment.


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

The lastest thing I'ved tried is from TropiClean. They have a water additive, a tooth gel and a foam that's for teeth. I have been putting the water additive in (just a couple of capfuls in about 8-12 cups of water) and even Lucy, who doesn't usually like anything new in her food or water, is drinking fine. I feel it's definitely helped with breath. I have been using the gel as their toothpaste and I also use the foam (just squirt it into their mouth) when I don't have time for actual brushing. I think it's helped a little so I will continue to use it. I've decided to start using some raw bones for my 4, too, so we'll see how it all ends up.


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