Summary: Brushing a puppy's teeth is not significant for long-term dental care because their adult teeth don't come in until they're about six months old. Discover the benefits of getting a puppy used to having their teeth brushed with pet care advice from a veterinarian in this free video on dog training and raising puppies.
Dr. James R. Talbott is a staff veterinarian at Belle Forest Animal Hospital and Kennel in Nashville, Tenn. In addition to providing general animal care for many different types of...read more
Dogs can bring an infinite amount of joy and companionship into our lives. Coming home to a wagging tail and an eager smile creates a feeling love and happiness and can make anyone feel needed as part of an intimate family. In fact, studies have show that having a pet can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and relieve depression. Whether your favorite activity to share with your puppy is a long walk in the park or just watching television on the couch together, it's important to show your dog just as much love as they show you. In this free video series, a veterinarian provides tips for potty-training puppies and taking care of them. Discover how often to brush a puppy's teeth, how to potty-train a puppy and how to take care of newborn puppies. Learn about picking out a good lab puppy, taking care of lab puppies and buying puppy physical therapy products. Make sure a puppy grows up healthy and happy with this information on pet care.
"Let's talk about how often to brush your puppies teeth. First of all, puppies have baby teeth. They do not get their full adult teeth in until they're just about six months of age or a little bit after, and so it's not terribly important to brush a puppies teeth for the function of long term dental care. The reason you want to do it early is to get them used to it. Because a lot of puppies really don't like the whole action of brushing their teeth. So the first thing to do is to use your finger. Be careful, puppies like to chew on everything but what you want to do is just get them used to you sticking your finger in their mouth and just gently rubbing those teeth, okay. Again, always be careful about those teeth because they can be sharp, but with puppy teeth they are a lot smaller than adult teeth and you know, they can be sensitive because they're growing as well and so what you want to do is just gently rub on those gums, and gently rub on the incisors, and the molars. And what you can do is graduate up to using a finger brush or a toothbrush that is designed for dogs. There are a lot of kits that come with toothpaste and a finger brush in there and so you eventually want to graduate to that but the first thing you want to do again is to kind of get them use to the overall you know, kind of brushing ability that you're going to be doing. Weekly is realistic. If you're trying to brush these guys every single day that usually doesn't translate really well as they get older so weekly is probably the most common thing, or as far as time frame is concerned about brushing your dog's teeth."
eHow Article: How Often to Brush a Puppy's Teeth
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