Recap #5: Your Dog's Teeth

Come to find out, you're supposed to be brushing your dog's teeth.  I spent the weekend with sisterwoman and she showed me a ton of great fotos of dog dental work, so I asked her to give me a thorough recap on this new area of learning for me.  SisterWoman is a vet tech. This is what she told me:

Big dogs enjoy a nice tooth brushing.  Small dogs?  Not so much but try to do it anyway. Brush your dog's teeth using dog toothpaste.  Human toothpaste can and will kill your dog.  Your vet can also clean your dog's teeth, but it's going to cost hundreds of dollars for the dog dental.  First the vet will give your dog some meds to loosen her up a bit.  Then they'll anesthetize your dog and give your dog an IV of fluids.  The vet will use an ultrasound toothcleaning tool to clean your dog's teeth.  If your dog has some rotting teeth, the vet will remove those.  Or your dog can have a root canal. My sister takes before and after pictures of the dental work, so your vet may do this as well.  Ask for the photos and send them to me if possible.  Like all of you, I'm now obsessed with dog dental work.