This dog has a lot of calculus, mineralised plaque on his teeth. Look out for yellow or brown discolouration on your pet’s teeth and if it’s there, it’s time to go to your veterinarian.

This dog’s teeth were cleaned and x-rayed. One tooth was removed because the x-ray showed painful tooth resorption. Even when teeth look normal its a good idea to get them x-rayed as two thirds of the tooth is under the gum and can’t be seen without an x-ray!

If you have let the calculus get so bad that the teeth are yellow or brown it’s vital to get an x-ray. If your veterinarian needs to remove a tooth, they will need to x-ray before the tooth is removed to understand what they are dealing with. An x-ray will need to be taken again after the extraction to make sure that the tooth and root are completely removed.

Calculus has to be removed by your veterinarian both above and below the gum line. A handy way to stop it building up is to use textured dental wipes. The photos below are of a wipe before and after it was used on a dog. Look how much bacterial build up and debris they remove. Dental wipes come in a jar of 100 that should last your pet three months.