This is part of a series in keeping your furkids, especially the elder variety, feeling and looking their best. It is not intended to supercede medical advice or directives.

Keeping up with your dog’s dental health is important to his/her overall health.

Regular cleaning is a must. It was explained to me this way: “…you brush your teeth and floss at least twice daily, but you still need to go to the dentist…your dog is no different.” A professional dental cleaning will remove plaque and tartar that brushing cannot.

There are pros and cons about both non-anesthesia and anesthesia type cleanings, and about who exactly has the ‘right’ to perform these activities. I won’t get into that here.
Suffice to say, keeping up with cleaning, though, will decrease the likelihood of anesthesia being the ONLY option in cases where dental disease has progressed too far.

Regular cleaning will also keep costs (& your dog’s discomfort) down in the long-run.

Put another way, no one has ever regretted keeping up with their dog’s dental health…