How Your Dog's Diet Assists Your Dog's Oral Health

People need to floss and brush their teeth on a regular basis to maintain the healthy condition of their gums, tongue, and teeth. Recently some research has suggested that good oral health may lower the risk of heart disease in humans. If oral health has such an impact on humans, then we need to contemplate the potential impact it could have on our dogs.

Obviously, brushing your dog's teeth on a regular basis will help to keep tartar and plaque buildup from becoming a problem. It can even be beneficial to wipe your dog's gums with a wet, clean cloth.

Your dog's diet affects your dog's oral health. Do you usually feed your dog dry or canned dog food? What types of toys and treats do you give your dog? All of these examples can affect your dog's oral health.

If your dog's diet contains essential enzymes, nutrients, and vitamins and is nutritionally sound overall, your dog will have great oral health. Feed your dog dry dog food instead of wet canned dog food. The hard surface of dry kibble rubs against your dog's teeth, reducing plaque. If you soften dry dog food with gravy or water you'll be eliminating this benefit.

The treats you feed your dog are just as much a part of the dog's diet as snacks are a part of a human's diet. As humans, we usually tend to overlook our snacking, so it's easy to overlook what kind and how many treats you feed your dog. You need to carefully think about any item you feed your dog.

Do you treat your dog with rawhides, bones, dog biscuits, or jerky treats? You may not of realized it, but giving your dog a rawhide is similar to tossing your dog a candy bar.

A lot of the snacks and treats you give your dog can be simply empty wasted calories. On the other hand, some treats can help improve your dog's oral health. Hard dog biscuits, for example, help to reduce tartar buildup on your dog's teeth. Softer treats, like jerky treats, don't help nearly at all with your dog's oral health. Some treats even help keep your dog's breath nice and fresh.

In order for your dog to have great oral health, your dog's diet needs to be a healthy and nutritious one. Remember, dry dog food is the best choice when possible and give your dog treats that will help maintain your dog's overall health, especially their oral health.