Dental advice to clients

RE: Dental advice to clients

Miriam Lodewyks — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 12:58:25 GMT

Wot Evelyn says...

it's all about disturbing the plaque build-up under the gingival fold!

I also get the feeling that dogs with moist, slobbery mouths generally have healthier dentition... perhaps because nothing sticks to really slippery wet teeth? Hence why rawhide and raw bones are so good. Admittedly I never recommend bones, but I am willing to risk them on my owne dogs and I'm convinced they help!

RE: Dental advice to clients

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 15:17:26 GMT

[quote user="Rob Davis"]

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Finger socks or microfibre cloths or even a bare finger work quite well too.[/quote]

I don't see how any of these will disrupt/remove the subgingival plaque which you're after. I think they're fine for training, and probably better than nothing but not not particularly effective.

[/quote][quote user="Rob Davis"]I believe there is a small amount of evidence suggesting benefit from chewing rawhide etc, but it is scant and I feel that is is unlikely that it will make a significant difference sub-gingivally.[/quote]

Well, I think both cloths and rawhide will clean subgingivally, probably by pushing the free gingiva around and generally squelching the gingival crevicular fluid.

Also: the aim is not to eliminate plaque (which of course you can't do) but to keep disturbing it and generally annoying it so that it never gets thick and it never has a chance to form the more mature ecosystem with a high proportion of anaerobic microbes and aggressive or toxin-producing species. That's my philosophy.

[quote user="Rob Davis"]For cats, hunting and eating prey is king![/quote]

You'd have to be careful which owners you recommend that to.......

RE: Dental advice to clients

Sarah Bolt — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 13:47:29 GMT

thank you for all the input. Really useful to have and is much appreciated ☺

[quote user="robloxley"]

[quote user="Sarah Jervis"] raw hide chews and pigs ears but others say not worth the risk of pancreatitis as they're quite fatty[/quote] Are they?

[/quote]

I must confess I read this somewhere and took it at face value, never have actually looked at packaging / ingredients to check it out - bad I know!

Thank you for the advice!

RE: Dental advice to clients

Rob Davis — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 13:20:34 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Brushing is best, it really is[/quote]

Definitely.

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Finger socks or microfibre cloths or even a bare finger work quite well too.[/quote]

I don't see how any of these will disrupt/remove the subgingival plaque which you're after. I think they're fine for training, and probably better than nothing but not not particularly effective.

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]With a good dentifrice such as Virbac's enzymatic.[/quote]

I'm not convinced that the paste makes much difference. Apart from chlorhexidine containing pastes which are useful in specific cases, I think the act of brushing is far more important than the paste. Manufacturer's claims tend to be rather imaginative....

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Antlers and Nylabones are right out. They break teeth.[/quote]

Agreed

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Dentastix and similar are pretty useless.[/quote]

Probably better than nothing, but I would put them in the same category as cloths etc.

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Hard food" (generally meaning biscuits) does nothing for the teeth. Hill's TD can help. Most "dental diets" are not very effective, but if you want to try one read the small print and make sure it is designed to discourage plaque, not just to discourage calculus.[/quote]

Yes. I think the VOHC seal of approval is a step in the right direction, but it requires evidence for reduction in plaque and/or calculus only. These are surrogate markers - there is no requirement to demonstrate a reduction in gingivitis etc. I too have generally felt that dry food doesn't make a significant difference, but I did recently read a paper (by ?Jerzy Gawor) suggesting that dogs fed dry diets had less periodontal disease than those on exclusively wet diets (though the study would not stand up to rigorous scrutiny...)

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Raw bones of a suitable size are good. Preferably with bits of meat and gristle on them.[/quote]

I'm not sure about this... I still think tooth fractures are more common in dogs fed bones. Are you aware of any evidence?

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

Rawhide chews are the bee's knees. Of a suitable size for the dog, which is probably one or two sizes up from what the owner thinks is the right size. If need be, soften one end in hot water to give the dog a start at it.

Pigs' ears are loved by dogs, but may be too hard for some.

Dried tripe strips are helpful and dogs are crazy for them, though they smell horrible when you get them out of the packet.

[/quote]

I believe there is a small amount of evidence suggesting benefit from chewing rawhide etc, but it is scant and I feel that is is unlikely that it will make a significant difference sub-gingivally.

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]For cats, a bit of meat trimming or gristle. Fish heads if you can stand them[/quote]

For cats, hunting and eating prey is king!

RE: Dental advice to clients

Neil Wheadon — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 19:38:31 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]Raw bones of a suitable size are good. Preferably with bits of meat and gristle on them.[/quote]

Why don't more owners use these?

The ones I have seen do really well and this included all our collie dogs on the farm. They don't splinter, they are gradually gnawed away.

They play with them for hours which gives them something to do and I still recommend them. The dogs that I see that have had them invariably have great teeth

Neil

RE: Dental advice to clients

Rob Loxley — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:37:15 GMT

For tested products look at http://www.vohc.org/VOHCAcceptedProductsTable_Dogs.pdf

[quote user="Sarah Jervis"] raw hide chews and pigs ears but others say not worth the risk of pancreatitis as they're quite fatty[/quote] Are they?

RE: Dental advice to clients

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:29:51 GMT

Brushing is best, it really is. Finger socks or microfibre cloths or even a bare finger work quite well too. Have a little caution when suggesting these, remember you are responsible if the owner gets bitten. Not those rubbery plasticy "finger brushes", they just make things more difficult.

With a good dentifrice such as Virbac's enzymatic.

Antlers and Nylabones are right out. They break teeth.

Dentastix and similar are pretty useless.

"Hard food" (generally meaning biscuits) does nothing for the teeth. Hill's TD can help. Most "dental diets" are not very effective, but if you want to try one read the small print and make sure it is designed to discourage plaque, not just to discourage calculus.

Raw bones of a suitable size are good. Preferably with bits of meat and gristle on them.

Pigs' ears are loved by dogs, but may be too hard for some.

Dried tripe strips are helpful and dogs are crazy for them, though they smell horrible when you get them out of the packet.

For cats, a bit of meat trimming or gristle. Fish heads if you can stand them.

RE: Dental advice to clients

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 17:19:44 GMT

I don't advise bone chewing and most dental aids are a complete waste of time bar Nylabones, Dentastix and brushing effectively is my advice. And that is not just my opinion but that of Norman Johnstone. Over to Evelyn et al.

RE: Dental advice to clients

Stephanie Wellings — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 17:16:44 GMT

Not a dentist, but this is the advice I give (also happy to be corrected if a 'proper' dentist comes along!)

Cats - if starting with clean teeth, brushing would be ideal, but impractical for many people, so dental food probably the next best. Chlorhexidine (PetDent) if lots of gingivitis.

Dogs - brushing! Anything else is less effective. Recommend microfibre finger socks to 'work up to' proper brushing. If they cannot brush then dental food and dentastix (but I tell them to imagine what their dentist would say if they gave up brushing and just ate hard foods...!)

I don't recommend bones because of the FB risk, don't like antlers because of tooth fracture, don't really like rawhide because of food bourne disease (although I have heard rawhide is actually really good for teeth...!)

Aquadent/plaque off don't physically remove plaque... I don't recommend them as I think owners have the impression they are doing something when they aren't really.