Smile with all your teeth!

What's better than people smiling at us with beautiful white teeth?

Oral hygiene is essential for us, with annual or biannual checkups and brushing one to three times a day. Cavities, fractured, or loose teeth can be incredibly painful—but we have access to fillings, root canals, and braces. So why do we allow our dogs and cats to suffer from severe tartar buildup and loose teeth?

Our pets, including larger animals like horses, can’t tell us when their teeth hurt. They may keep eating despite the pain, suffering in silence. Significant tartar buildup can also cause unbearable bad breath. Thankfully, tartar accumulation can be slowed with preventive care like enzymatic toothpaste, dental foods, and other specialized products. When necessary, professional scaling—with or without extractions—remains the last resort, depending on severity.

We understand that scaling and extraction procedures can be very expensive for owners, but these procedures are sometimes necessary to allow our companions to have the best possible quality of life and to eat without pain. It is also important to keep in mind that small breed dogs tend to have more dental problems than larger dogs, so this should be taken into account.