Keeping teeth clean

Just posted this on another forum as well, but I'm hoping to get several good responses to sway me.


To make a long story short, I'll just say that Boo got out of the yard today (starting to think that the beagle next door taught her how, which is extremely aggravating... needless to say, we'll be talking to the owners and hoping they build a real fence). Back to the point. So Boo found herself a steak bone that had dropped out of the trash after the trash men came and decided to chew on it. Bad, I know. Of course as soon as we saw where she was and what she was doing, the bone was traded for a tasty piece of boneless turkey and she was brought inside. Luckily for us, Boo has no wanderlust, and was still in the front yard. Even luckier for us, the bone didn't splinter, so Boo is fine.

After a full home oral examination by her paranoid mom (aka me) I've found that the only lasting effect that the bone has had on her teeth is that the teeth on one side of her mouth are now white.

Of course I would NEVER intentionally feed my dog a cooked bone, but this makes me think that maybe raw bones really do do a good job of keeping teeth clean. After all, Boo was not out for more than 15 or 20 minutes with the bone and all of that plaque which I have been diligently scrubbing at (to no avail) with the toothbrush is now gone.

I've heard a lot of good things about raw bones (this would not be her diet, merely a toothbrush that actually works), but I'm still not all for the idea. I worry about splintering (I was in panic mode today) ,bacteria, and choking, and just about anything else that could be worried about.

Please convince me that raw bones won't hurt my dog (or convince me that they will... either way, I want to be sure one way or the other). Boo's teeth need to get cleaner, or we'll have to have them scaled again (we've had her for 10 months and this has already been done once since we've had her.) We brush her teeth at least once every few days, but she doesn't chew on much. She could care less about rawhide bones. Sorry for the rambling essay.

Oh, and of course, I'm assuming that raw bones do help clean teeth. If not, please enlighten me!

-GoingNowhere

Well, I don' think anyone can promise nothing will ever happen. No one can guarantee that. But, my dog Buddy is on a raw diet and recently had his annual check up and the vet said, "my god, look at those teeth" and he was not stating this in horror.

Buddy gets a lot of chicken bones, whole bodied chicken, chicken backs, leg quarters, necks, etc.. He also gets beef knuckle bones, turkey necks, turkey wings now and then (I'm really careful with these and watch him like a hawk), beef ribs. I just bought some lamb bones as well. He has no complaints, his teeth are clean and he is fed the most appropriate diet out there.

Dance has been raw fed since she was weaned and hasn't had any issues at all. She's only 15 months old, so I don't expect her teeth to look dirty, but they're extremely white with no plaque build up at all. Winston's are badly stained from being a kibble dog with no tooth care for 7 years before we adopted him, but he has no plaque now at 10yrs old. He's not raw fed, but he does get raw bones a couple times a week, and they help immensely.

You do have to be a little cautious with beef bones. Tango broke one tooth on a knuckle bone, but she was also a very tough chewer. None of my other dogs have broken one any teeth on beef bones, perhaps because they're all very light chewers, but it's still something to be aware of.

I wouldn't worry about bacteria. Dogs handle stuff like that better than humans, and you can always wash the area where Boo eats the bones if you're concerned. Choking is always a possibility, but none of mine have ever choked on anything raw. Splintering is only an issue with cooked bones.

I've used raw bones to clean the teeth on my dogs for about 14 years now.

I always used turkey necks and gave them about twice a week. Then I met a deer processor and started to get deer necks. Now we're on full raw and my dogs have spotless teeth. I haven't had a dog need to get a dental cleaning since the mid 90's.

Thanks for the info and responses everyone! Boo is a medium/large sized dog (a little over 50 lbs), but she really isn't big. If I were to try this, what types of bones would you suggest to start with?

I like this thread... I adopted an older dog with severe plaque, and he had a dental done last yr... but his teeth look gross again... and I try to brush them but he's doens't cooperate very well! lol.

Depends on how she approaches it.

I always used raw turkey necks. My dogs were not frantic gulpers however. I'd never use those with my dobie becuase she'd just swallow them.

If your dog approaches it calmly and relatively slowly, you can use turkey necks, or wings or backs, all nice and bony. However, if your dog eats like... well... a dog, you may need something larger.