The mouth is one of two of the dirtiest openings on any mammal’s body. The number of bacteria in one mouth 10X’s the entire worlds population…and that’s just one mouth!!! Nothing we can do about that really, but the cleanliness of what’s inside the mouth…that we can do something about through dental care for your pets.
A dirty mouth
A dirty mouth = a stinky mouth, especially when it comes to dental hygiene. You know this from your personal hygiene. Your pets, however, needs a little help with it if you’re going to live with them in olfactory harmony
Halitosis (bad breath) and tooth decay are the number 1 oral problems faced by pets. This is a progressive phenomenon which starts by formation of tartar on the enamel of the teeth brought about by food particles left on the teeth after eating.
The above problem leads to horrible dental diseases such as malar abscesses, cavities and tooth loss accompanied by rancid breath…you know, the kind that is likely to decay flowers when they open their mouths…to graphic? No? Yes?
THE SOLUTION
Like every other problem, this is preventable.
But first, like the plumber from our previous posts, you need the right tools.
You can brush your pets’ teeth. Now I know this sounds like some sophisticated pish posh drinking tea with your pinky in the air type of BS, but it has proven to reduce halitosis and tooth decay in the pet households that employ this solution – Trinkets Pet Parents for example.
You don’t have to vigorously and forcefully grate your pet’s teeth to get gunk out. No. Just lift the upper lip and brush gently with the finger brush or pet toothbrush and pet tooth paste. And if your too scared to do so, you can always visit your Veterinarian for a dental scaling appointment – another method of dental care for your pets.
If your pet’s teeth are in a very bad state, your vet might elect to extract a few of the bad ones. This is important. It will not affect your pet’s eating habits, not unless all the teeth are horrible and need to come out; then you will need to give a wet food diet
See you on our next post where we talk about dealing with fleas and ticks!