Urgh! Just had to fork out £400 for dog dental...

[HowAnnoying]

teeth removed, and clean and polish, she had really bad gum disease (oops!). Vet has always told me to brush their teeth but I just ignored. Now I am going to start brushing both their teeth. I'm thinking of buying these:

chews

and

toothepaste

does anyone know if there are any better alternatives out there?

Bones. Raw ones. You can get them from the butchers for free. Raw chicken wings are also good teeth cleaners but unless your dog is quite small, be careful of choking, as lots of dogs try to swallow them whole.

the toothpaste is good, even if you just spread it over the teeth. It helps neutralise bad stuff.

i think the chews are worth doing too - easy, and help a bit, but probably not as good as the toothpaste.

i find that brushing my dog's teeth makes his gums bleed, so don't do it every day, but rubbing with gauze is a gentler alternative.

I don't brush my dogs teeth. He won't let me and he a bit, well, scary when he doesn't like something. I value my fingers too much

He does get lots of bones though. Raw, cooked and rawhide ones. The butcher saves a big sack of them for us, once a week and I share them out with all my doggy friends

My vet says my dog has good teeth.

i dont brush ours either but noticed one of them now has breath to knock a man out 20 miles away.

Does normal pet insurance cover dental problems?

These treats Fish Jerky are brilliant for keeping their teeth clean and are 100% natural too, cannot recomend them enough.

My dogs act like complete plonkers around bones, they always want the one the other dog has got, and end up barking and chasing each other. Quite odd!

Feeling quite guilty about Dog1 losing 5 teeth (one canine) She's a lurcher so apparently prone to teeth problems. I did try brushing pre children days, but was one of those things that got neglected.

Will get some gauze too aswell as a toothbrush.

Bollockbrain - no insurance doesn't cover dental. Right bugger that is!

WTWTW - Are those fish things smelly?

really? what a waste of money. mine are all gettting long in the tooth (excuse the pun) and never so far had to use the insurance so was thinking of going along and making the most of it with getting their teeth looked at.

That's interesting re lurchers. My dog is a whippet and despite us brushing (albeit a bit erratically) he has quite a lot of tartar build up. I think it's something to do with a gland excreting something near their big teeth (trying to remember what the vet said).

One of our vets always goes on about it, but the other one thinks his teeth aren't too bad. The fussy one keeps threatening to put him under anaesthetic in order to clean them!

HowAnnoying They do smell of fish but only if you put them right under your nose, they are totally dry, like rawhide, but much rougher, very good as a toothbrush, they also are more crunchy than rawhaide so arn't all soggy and messy.

Quickly ordered some of the fish sticks for my two new lurchers.

My lurcher had to have a couple of teeth out and a scale and polish.

I would double check on the insurance situation here - the dog had a disease process here in the gums/teeth and the dental treatment should be deemed as such, not as a preventative measure. Most insurers in my experience do cover dental costs where the work done is not for preventative reasons, but the vet will have to make this clear on the claim too. Obviously though it does all come down to the small print on the policy and their terms and conditions being met too.

Oh God. I have a greyhound who had her teeth cleaned under GA 2 years ago. She needs it doing again now and I was thinking it would be about £100. Can't afford £400.

Her gums are bleeding a bit at times and her breath is bad. She won't let me brush her teeth or spray the expensive stuff in her mouth that the vet flogged me.

I use plaque off granules in her food, dry food only and greenies chews.

Stripey thats what happened with our Lurcher, had her teeth cleaned under GA about 3 years ago, but steadily got worse with bleeding gums, bad breath and she was having a job chewing thigns also.

TBH I would get her checked out now because its the teeth extractions that make the bill go through the roof so the quicker they are sorted the less likely she'll need any out.

Also gum disease can apparently spread through the body and cause serious problems with other organs. Our Lurcher is 9 now, so am gonna keep on top of her teeth with chews and brushing, don't want to put her through that again before she goes to that big kennell in the sky!

Sorry don't mean to scare you!