# Dentastix and other teeth cleaning products



## EdDTS (May 30, 2012)

My dog is in need of some extra cleaning on his teeth, brushing his teeth is effective but it's usually a pain since he doesn't like it very much.
Has anyone had any experiences with Pedigree Dentastix? I'm wary of it just because of the Pedigree brand.
Or do you have any recommendations of what I could give my dog to gnaw on so his teeth with get a little more clean?


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

EdDTS said:


> My dog is in need of some extra cleaning on his teeth, brushing his teeth is effective but it's usually a pain since he doesn't like it very much.
> Has anyone had any experiences with Pedigree Dentastix? I'm wary of it just because of the Pedigree brand.
> Or do you have any recommendations of what I could give my dog to gnaw on so his teeth with get a little more clean?


I don't think anything is going to keep a dog's teeth in as good of shape as brushing will. I've personally never used a bone or chew that made any significant impact in the amount of tartar on my dog's teeth. Brushing with an enzymatic toothpaste has. If you want to give a chew for your dog's teeth though, I would definitely make it a raw meaty bone, but in my experience the effect is pretty minimal (compared to brushing) if you're still feeding even a small amount of commercial food. I put Sydney on 100% raw for two weeks and decided to stop brushing during that time. When I finally went to brush her teeth again, not only were they looking slightly more brown in the few problem areas she has in the back, but her gums bled! This was just two weeks without brushing and all I can say is never again. Eating raw probably was better than kibble for her teeth, but IMO it wasn't a whole lot better, especially for those gums.


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## EdDTS (May 30, 2012)

kafkabeetle said:


> I don't think anything is going to keep a dog's teeth in as good of shape as brushing will. I've personally never used a bone or chew that made any significant impact in the amount of tartar on my dog's teeth. Brushing with an enzymatic toothpaste has. If you want to give a chew for your dog's teeth though, I would definitely make it a raw meaty bone, but in my experience the effect is pretty minimal (compared to brushing) if you're still feeding even a small amount of commercial food. I put Sydney on 100% raw for two weeks and decided to stop brushing during that time. When I finally went to brush her teeth again, not only were they looking slightly more brown in the few problem areas she has in the back, but her gums bled! This was just two weeks without brushing and all I can say is never again. Eating raw probably was better than kibble for her teeth, but IMO it wasn't a whole lot better, especially for those gums.


Thank you, I've heard the term raw meaty bone used a lot but I don't actually know what it means. Does that mean like grabbing a raw chicken leg and just giving it to my dog? Or what would exactly classify as a raw meaty bone?
And I'll look at the tooth paste I use right now for him and pick up an enzymatic toothpaste later.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

EdDTS said:


> Thank you, I've heard the term raw meaty bone used a lot but I don't actually know what it means. Does that mean like grabbing a raw chicken leg and just giving it to my dog? Or what would exactly classify as a raw meaty bone?
> And I'll look at the tooth paste I use right now for him and pick up an enzymatic toothpaste later.


Yeah, it's basically just any bone with some meat on it that's safe to chew. For small dogs chicken necks and wings work well, or even drumsticks (though those are more meat than bone, so I'd make them a meal). I really like beef ribs for teeth cleaning. I usually let her strip the meat off the bone and then let her chew on the bone itself for a while as she tries to get at the marrow. Most dogs won't eat the actual bone though, whereas chicken bones are soft and easily consumed (which is absolutely fine).


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

My dog LOVES dentastix and gets on every night before bed. Does it really help his teeth? ... I doubt it, he devours it in about 3-4 chomps and really it's doggie junk food. In the end I don't think it serves any purpose other than he REALLY likes it. I feed him a good quality kibble and treats so I don't really worry about the nutritionally void bed time treat.

I'm still trying to push myself into trying some beef ribs for his teeth but his aggressive chewing and tendency to swallow any thing and every thing makes me cautious.


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

I've found that those "tooth cleaning products" do absolutely nothing to help my dog's teeth. 

A beef rib or turkey back or neck really cleans my dog's teeth up nicely. I've got photographic proof of that as well, if you don't believe me.


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

Losech said:


> I've found that those "tooth cleaning products" do absolutely nothing to help my dog's teeth.
> 
> A beef rib or turkey back or neck really cleans my dog's teeth up nicely. I've got photographic proof of that as well, if you don't believe me.


Ditto - I've never purchased teeth cleaning products for my dogs other than raw meaty bones (plus they eat %100 raw diet)

Not the greatest quality pic, but this a pic of my Kelpie mixs' teeth. This was just after I transitioned him onto a %100 raw diet, including lots of raw meaty bones. He was previously fed a partial kibble, partial raw diet. Can't see his back teeth here, but I check them often and they're usually always pretty squeaky clean unless he has a little raw meat stuck in there from a meal.. no tartar/plaque build up on his teeth though 

Can't get a good pic of my Shiba's mouth, but I wish I could have gotten a before and after of his teeth after he started getting lots of RMB's in his diet.. what an improvement.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

I don't know what the difference is, but I can only go by my experience. Sydney is 5 years old and a raw diet didn't do a thing for her teeth. I don't doubt that it does help some, but it is interesting to me that most of the pictures I've seen of awesomely clean raw fed dog teeth are of rather young dogs. I don't think most dog's teeth start to go south until around 3 anyway, regardless of diet.


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

kafkabeetle said:


> I don't think most dog's teeth start to go south until around 3 anyway, regardless of diet.


My Shiba's teeth get majorly gunked up by kibble in no-time flat. He's only two so yeah, he's a younger dog, but after only two weeks on kibble there is a definite difference. The longer he eats kibble without chewing on a bone, the more crud builds up. And he chews each and every little kibble one at a time, so that doesn't help "keep the teeth clean" as so many companies claim.
My other two are seven. One of them busted a tooth real bad and had to have it extracted and her teeth were cleaned then, but they have gunked up rather quickly since. Giving her a good bone to chew on once a week or so scraps that off. The other has never had her teeth cleaned, and they looked real gross when I moved back in. Giving a bone once a week got them good, but I still did have to attack some of the stuck=on crud with a tooth scraper. Now the once a week bone keeps them relatively clean.

These were her teeth when I moved back in. Note the gunk on the carnassials.
These are her teeth after six weeks of weekly bones. See how the carnassial gunk is gone? Here's a closeup of the carnassials and canines. (The gums are red because she'd just been chewing when I took this pictures.) I imagine they would have gotten cleaner faster if I'd given her a bone more frequently. Nowadays there is hardly any gunk on them at all. And like I mentioned above, the stuff on the canines needed to be scraped off manually, but everything else was taken care of by the bones.

Not trying to argue, just telling my experiences with raw bones. They can and do differ, and what works for me, might not work for you.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Wow, that's a pretty impressive difference on those top back teeth. Maybe the reason I haven't gotten any extreme results is because her teeth aren't that bad. People talk a lot about bit chunks of tartar chipping off, but I don't think that's really possible with the amount she has.

These are both bad pictures, but if you assume the first one looks worse than real life because of too low of lighting and the second one looks better because of too high of lighting you can get the idea.



















I guess by most people's standards her teeth are already good, but I wish I could get them back to being entirely tartar free. I probably had too high of expectations regarding the impact a raw diet would have on her teeth. Right now I don't feel like I'm doing my due diligence if I'm not brushing her teeth daily, but I have a unique perspective on this after have a much-loved dog die too soon because of health complications directly related to his bad oral health.

Oh, and I don't think you were suggesting that I thought this, but for clarity, I in no way believe that kibble cleans a dog's teeth. The carbs alone are detrimental, not to mention the lack of chewing, bits of food getting stuck against the back teeth and the gums, etc. Even if a raw diet had no impact on a dog's teeth, it at least does not harm, unlike kibble.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

i need to start brushing my two's teeth (i just give them the bones for their enjoyment not to clean their teeth) but Buddy is kinda weird about getting anything 'strange' done to him still, how can i go about desensitizing him to it? Josefina isnt a problem, she was raised by me from a pup & will let me do anything to her


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

dogdragoness said:


> i need to start brushing my two's teeth (i just give them the bones for their enjoyment not to clean their teeth) but Buddy is kinda weird about getting anything 'strange' done to him still, how can i go about desensitizing him to it? Josefina isnt a problem, she was raised by me from a pup & will let me do anything to her


Sydney used to be the same way, but in my care she has become very used to man-handling. ;p I started by just letting her lick toothpaste off of my hand, then worked up to brushing toothpaste onto her canines with my finger while petting her, then teeth further and further back. Then I started over using the brush. Whenever I finish brushing I always give her a bit more toothpaste as a reward. For me, anything like this just needs to be approached slowly and once they realize nothing horrible is going to happen to them it gets easier. Make sure you get something that tastes nice...she really likes the poultry flavored Petrodex and CET formulas. She doesn't try to run away or anything, but same as getting her nails trimmed she sort of acts like, "Ok, lets get this over with," and when I release her she runs around happily, knowing it's done and she gets to play now. Which is awesome, considering in the past she would immediately run under the bed after I had to do any sort of grooming.


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

kafkabeetle said:


> I guess by most people's standards her teeth are already good, but I wish I could get them back to being entirely tartar free. I probably had too high of expectations regarding the impact a raw diet would have on her teeth. Right now I don't feel like I'm doing my due diligence if I'm not brushing her teeth daily, but I have a unique perspective on this after have a much-loved dog die too soon because of health complications directly related to his bad oral health.


Her teeth do look good, but I can see what you are talking about. I'd probably get a tooth scraper and just get the bits that can't be gotten off with a chew/bone myself.
Juneau's teeth look about like that, and I try to keep them as clean as possible since she had her cleaning/extraction. Conker's are slightly better than Juneau's but they gunk up so fast on kibble it's really irritating and I have to stay on top of it. 



dogdragoness said:


> Buddy is kinda weird about getting anything 'strange' done to him still, how can i go about desensitizing him to it?


Conker came to be basically feral and hated everything being done to him. I was the only one who could handle him from the getgo (took a while for the ex to be able to get close to him) but I earned the right to mess with him by giving him many treats and tasty things. Or bribed, whichever one suits you.
Though I don't do it, I did teach him to tolerate tooth brushing. I wanted to be able to do basically everything without risk of getting bit, and so I started training him to like the toothbrush. I started by dipping it in chicken broth and let him lick it, then chew on it. Then I made some tasty cheese paste and let him lick and chew that off as well.
Now, I also had to get him used to touching his mouth, so I will change the subject briefly. I would lift his lips for a second and give him a treat. Do it a couple more times, always with a treat, then I'd open his mouth breifly, give a treat. When he was good with me doing that, I would stick the toothbrush in there for a second then give him a treat and let him lick and chew the brush. Eventually I could brush his teeth with little or no objections.
Now replace teeth/lips/toothbrush with foot, tail, brush/comb, ears, etc. and that's how I trained him to accept all sorts of handling and grooming.


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## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

I don't think they tend to do much. A don't remember where I heard this, but someone said they were at a convention or meeting or something promoting Dentastix or a similar product. They had a demo dog there. The person asked what the dog was fed- it was a raw fed.

My dogs are fed prey model raw. It's not only the chomping of edible bones (NOT hard, tooth-damaging marrow bones) but also sinking their teeth deep into meat that helps clean them. Bones do a lot of the work but meat helps too.

Both my dogs are 2 and 1/2. 


















Here are some other pics I found online.









5 yr old









7 yr old









4 yr old









6 yr old









These are blurry but you can still tell the difference.
8+ yrs old Before raw:









After raw:









Ferrets too!


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

Roxie's teeth were super gunky with black and yellow spots when I switched to full raw ~1 month ago.

And now:










Sorry I couldn't get her lips back more. That black fleshy bit is the inside of her cheek.

ETA: She is about six.


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

pic 1, Rusty, 9 years old, pic 2, Happy, 12 years old, pic 3, Misty, 10 years old. all eat primariiy raw. 

I also reccomend Tropiclean tooth foam, I use it for Baby because she there is no bones she can eat(allergies), and it works great, I use it on Happy as well, because she doesnt like to chew enough, her teeth were dirtier then this before I started using the tropiclean foam as well.


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