Mijoy Yorkies and Mijoy Biewers

 WITH THANKS TO DOG SOLUTIONS FOR THIS ARTICLE.

Just like people, dogs can break or fracture their teeth.  And just like us, they get gum disease too. 

Dogs are five times more likely to get gum disease than humans for a couple of reasons. 

• First, dogs have a more alkaline mouth, which promotes plaque formation. 

• Second, unlike humans, dogs usually don't have their teeth brushed daily (sadly, in my case it is an impossibility!  Diving head first every morning into a tooth brushing argument with a 40kg male German Shepherd Dog is ALWAYS a bad idea!)

"Plaque is made up of saliva, food debris, sloughed cells from the lining of the mouth, oral bacteria, and their by-products," says Colleen O'Morrow, DVM, a fellow of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry and a veterinary dentist in Canada.

"As the plaque thickens from not being cleaned away on a regular daily basis, the bacteria multiply."

Once the bacteria multiply, so do the problems.  As the bacteria increases, your dog's mouth mobilises cells to fight the invasion.  Those mobilised cells and the bacteria combine to cause inflammation and tissue destruction in your dog's mouth. 

As the inflammation and tissue destruction progress, they destroy bone, which ultimately leads to tooth loss -- and a lot of pain for your dog or cat.

Be Aware:  Dogs Rarely Show Signs of Dental Pain

Even with a cracked tooth or periodontal disease, your dog would probably eat normally, wiggle happily at your return home - overall, they will act like that same crazy, lovable dog you know.

Your pet may be in chronic pain, but you wouldn't know it.

Why?  Dogs have evolved to hide such chronic pain. Their animal instinct is just not to show signs of weakness.

"In my experience the No. 1 sign of periodontal disease is no signs at all," says Brett Beckman, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC, DAAPM, a veterinary dentist.

"The number of patients I see a year that come in because there is pain is less than 5%," says Beckman, while more than 80% of dogs have periodontal disease by the time they're 3 years old. (I found this to be an amazing statistic) 

"I really want to get that point across," says Beckman, "there are almost always no signs at all" of dental pain.

PlaqueOff Animal works gently and pain-free when cleaning your pet's mouth and teeth. 

Working systemically, it causes the plaque bacteria to lose its stickiness thereby preventing the plaque from sticking to the teeth in the first place. 

No sticky plaque = no more build-up. 

No plaque build up = huge increase in oral hygiene. 

Good oral hygiene = happy dogs and cats. 

Mission accomplished!

Ask your vet about PlaqueOff Animal when you see them on your pet's next check up or sort out their teeth now and order.