Teeth Scaling

[jimnconnie]

I'm thinking about trying to scale our dogs' teeth.  Nothing drastic, not under the gums, just the visible surface area.  I've read a little about it on the Web, both pro & con.  Anyone here do it, or tried it?  Our breeder/groomer does it if she thinks it necessary and it has never caused any problem that I know of.  Please give me or opinions, pro or con.  Thanks.

[bradl]

For purely cosmetic purposes between "real" cleanings it can be done without too much difficulty. We tried it while showing (judges all inspect the bite, or should). We found it varied quite a bit by the dog. What seemed to work best was to sit down with the dog laying on its back along our legs, as if for a belly rub. We were able to scrape some fairly unappealing bits off but frankly lacked the patience ourselves to do a very thorough job. The dogs who would tolerate it would basically lay there forever, seemingly. Well within reason. They do get fidgety after a while, most of them. 

 

Thanks for pointing out that topic. Regrettably the post you quoted — which contained actually useful information with which I agree — also contained a spam link. Bummer. Bye-bye post and bye-bye poster.

[sanford]

scaling for cosmetic purposes sounds ok and harmless to me. However, I want to mention that I read somewhere that if you do more than the minimum, it's important to polish the teeth... Something I think can only be done at the vet's. Scaling can roughen the surface of the teeth very slightly, but enough to be counterproductive... The roughened surface tends to trap and hold plaque, food bits, etc.