Matilda has never had great teeth. For her first year - we brushed at least every other day & used the water additive that's supposed to help with their teeth as well. Still...she started getting quite a bit of build up on her molars. She's going in Tuesday to have her baby canines out (which you can see in the picture below) and I figured I'd ask them to scale her teeth while they were there. Since she was going to be put under anyway...it was only an added $40 or something.
Well, getting ready to brush the pups teeth today I got looking at her teeth & sort of scraping it with my nail. A little piece of the "build up" came off - it's like a hard covering a tad darker than her natural teeth - very weird. But I was thinking people can scrape their own teeth with that pick thing you can buy (sorry, I do not know the proper name of this instrument LOL) - and my pups are pretty good about letting me do whatever to them I need. So I grabbed our little pick & proceded to scrape the build up on her teeth.
15 minutes later & her back molars have never been so WHITE!! It was a little difficult to get the bottom teeth (which had a nasty dark brown build up starting - ick) because her tops sort of go over them but I held my finger between her teeth & let her bite me (OUCH) while I cleaned those as well. It took a little time & patience and I'm sure I didn't do as good a job as the vet while their under but by golly I think I've just saved myself from them needing dentals every couple of years! Not to mention save the trama of them going to the vets and being put under anesthesia (which always makes me nervous with these little dogs!).
So anyway - there it is. I've become a doggy dental hygienist!
Here is Miss Matilda after her "cleaning". I should have thought to get a "before" shot for comparison but I thought this was funny anyway. Matilda will do this sometimes when she gets really excited playing (usually though her lip is folded up more so you can see her gum as well) - I swear she's smiling! Oh & yes...notice the extra tooth? Come Tuesday - she'll have a normal smile which will be great because I can see where stuff gets caught in between them has started to discolor a bit.
What a great idea! I'll have to look into that. I do brush Bentley & Lexi's teeth every night, but I'm sure they would benefit from a good ole scraping every now and again. That's so great that you were able to get Matilda's teeth so fresh & clean! They do look good. Now it's just getting rid of that pesky retained canine!
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