Brushing Up: Why Pet Dental Health Matters More Than You Think - Barking Mad

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Brushing Up: Why Pet Dental Health Matters More Than You Think

Episode 76 • 4th February 2026 • Barking Mad • BSM Partners

00:13

Jordan Tyler

Have you ever leaned in to kiss your dog or cat's face and immediately regretted it? We all joke about “doggy breath,” but behind that foul odor is pain you can't see, from disease that's quietly making its way from the gums to the heart, the kidneys, and into the bloodstream.

00:30

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Today we're biting into one of the most overlooked parts of the pet's wellness, dental health. Research shows periodontal disease may start in the mouth, but it doesn't stay there. It can influence overall health in ways most pet parents never even realized.

00:46

Jordan Tyler

We're joined by Dr. Amy Thompson, a veterinary dentist; Dr. Bradley Quest, a dental chew innovator and formerly practicing veterinarian; Dr. Joe Roetheli, a pet dental health pioneer who invented Greenies; and Greg Kean and Alyssa Franford of Wellness Pet Company, which manufactures WHIMZEES dental chews.

01:07

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Stick around like plaque on your teeth. As these experts help us understand what's really happening inside our pet’s mouth, why it matters far more than we think, and what we can actually do to make a difference.

01:19

Jordan Tyler

This is your crash course in the science and the day-to-day practicality of keeping your pet's mouth in tip top shape.

01:26

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Welcome to Barking Mad, a podcast by BSM Partners. We're your host, Dr. Stephanie Clark—

01:33

Jordan Tyler

—and I'm Jordan Tyler. So, I have a joke. Unfortunately, I have a joke. And this, I actually got this from Ron, so I can't take full credit. But anytime somebody says, let's go at two-thirty, or let's do this, it's happening at two-thirty. You go, “Two-thirty? Somebody call the dentist!” Tooth, hurt-y?

01:57

Dr. Stephanie Clark

You may not have any human children, but Ron's dad jokes are on another level.

02:06

Jordan Tyler

Truly, truly. He's practicing. He's just like, he's stockpiling, honestly. But I went to the dentist. (I know. I'm proud of myself too.) But I went to the dentist recently, and I just want to know what's up with all the new toothpaste flavors. They were like—I guess it's the polish. They were like, “What do you want for your polish today? Do you want mint, marshmallow, cotton candy?” I don't know. There was like a cookies and cream option. I'm like, what? Who? Gross. That sounds gross. I just want mint.

02:39

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I mean, girl, you look fabulous. No red light needed. But did you go to the pediatric dentist?

02:44

Jordan Tyler

Seriously. I was like, do I get a sucker?

02:47

Dr. Stephanie Clark

These are the same flavors that Esther has. But, also, don't you think it's interesting that, like, it's the most sugary thing? What signals are they sending us?

02:56

Jordan Tyler

Yep. Mixed messages. That's what I'm saying.

02:59

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Please brush my teeth with cotton candy. I mean, I get it right in, like, Europe, they call it candy floss or tooth floss.

03:05

Jordan Tyler

Oh, true. True. Candy floss. Yeah.

03:08

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I'm not sure why, but maybe that's why. I don't know.

03:11

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, they just have funny words for stuff. And honestly, I think it's really endearing. But anyway, we've gathered here today because dental health doesn't just matter for us. It totally matters for us. Don't get me wrong. But it's actually just as important for our pets as it is for ourselves. So, Dr. Steph, take us through why this matters so much.

03:35

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So, my grandpa would be like, “Oh, it's fine if a dog licks you. It's as clean as a dog's mouth.” And I get to thinking, like, who created that saying—and I'm probably butchering this saying—because it's not true. Right? I mean, how many of us you can raise your hand in the car if you're listening to this in the car or while you're trying to rock your child to sleep or, you know, while you're getting ready in the morning. But you can raise your hand if you brush your dog's teeth today. Anyone? Anyone? Probably not. And I mean, that's no fault. Right? Like, life happens. We don't like to stick our fingers in our pet's mouth. But because we don't have the time, because toothbrushing for our pets is not the greatest, the most fun activity, and life is busy, and life happens. It's festering with bacteria.

04:25

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I mean, we don't call it, you know, cat scratch and cat bite fever for nothing. Right? The amount of disease or the amount of bacteria that could then cause disease—and we forget about how close our mouth and our heart are. And that is a major thing with our pets. When you start having this bacteria build up, it gets directly into the bloodstream. It goes directly to the heart. And so really taking care of your pet's mouth and their oral health is the crux of every other bodily organ.

04:57

Jordan Tyler

Seriously, you're totally right. And we know this, this is an established thing, right? Banfield Pet Hospital did a meta-analysis of periodontal disease in our companion animals, and they found that cats with advanced periodontal disease were 1.5 times more likely to develop chronic kidney disease, and dogs with advanced periodontal disease were 2.3 times more likely to develop chronic kidney disease and 6.3 times more likely to develop endocarditis, which, isn't endocarditis a heart condition?

05:30

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yep. It's inflammation of your heart, in the most simplest terms.

05:35

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. Not good stuff. Nothing that anybody wants. We need to be taking care of our pets mouths. And there are a bunch of different ways that we can do that. Toothbrushing is one of them. It's seen as the gold standard. So, we'll talk about that a little bit today, but we also know, like Dr. Steph said, it's hard. I don't know if you've ever tried to put a toothbrush in your pet's mouth, but they don't love it. So, we'll also take you through some of the alternative things that you can use like chews and additives and some of the other products that are on the market. But first, let's dive into tooth brushing. We're going to go first to Dr. Amy Thomson. She's a veterinary dentist and oral surgeon who specializes in teaching other vets and pet parents how to brush their pet's teeth. So, here she is explaining how oral care connects to a pet's overall health and well-being.

06:26

Dr. Amy Thomson

Oral pain is something that I think any veterinarian you talk to is one of those things that's very like under still underappreciated, underdiagnosed and ultimately undertreated. Because a lot of times it's like, well, if their mouth was painful, they'd stop eating, which is just not the case. But I do find that can be very challenging for owners to appreciate that there's disease there. Not just as pet parents, but as veterinarians as well are becoming more and more aware of, you know, talking about these early signs of periodontal disease and then what that really means. Because the oral cavity is sort of like the gateway to our body. So, you know, as important as oral health is to our health, it is also very important to our pet's health. And unfortunately, periodontal disease is a disease that we have to essentially fight every day.

07:24

Dr. Amy Thomson

All of us that have teeth are going to get periodontal disease if we're not doing something to prevent it. So, I know that sounds a little pessimistic, but I promise we're just trying to be realistic of what we're dealing with here. And there's lots of connections between disease in the oral cavity and how that impacts other organs, you know, specifically the heart where all the blood flows through. So, it really is not just for their overall comfort, which is a huge thing, but for their overall systemic health.

08:00

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Adding to the body of knowledge, we have Dr. Bradley Quest, longtime pet dental product formulator, innovator, and formerly practicing veterinarian, a great friend of the podcast. He explains how periodontal disease starts and how it can spread to impact the rest of the body.

08:18

Dr. Bradley Quest

It all really starts with, you know, plaque formation, and plaque's just simply, you know, a combination of, we call it a biofilm or, you know, bacteria, food particles. They adhere to, you know, the tooth surface and eventually that plaque starts to get below the gum line. And once it gets below the gum line, you start getting, certain bacteria in places where they shouldn't be. Then you kind of get the whole disease process that starts off as, you know, we would call it gingivitis or it's inflammation of the gums. And as it advances, it becomes a bigger problem because one, it starts leading to, you know, the degradation of the supporting structures of the teeth, you know, into the jaw itself. And as that progresses, you know, it becomes even more painful.

09:10

Dr. Bradley Quest

And then you get bacteria that can actually get absorbed into the bloodstream and, you know, can go to other places in the body. You know, there's been more research about how, you know, bad oral health can lead to other, you know, even just as serious or in some cases more serious health problems too, you know, in other organs and in the body. It's really, it's a progression.

09:39

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So stinky breath actually isn't normal. We don't like it when we're sitting next to someone with stinky breath. We don't want our pets to have stinky breath. It's actually called halitosis.

09:49

Dr. Amy Thomson

I love hearing the term halitosis because I think that's really important. Something that I was faced with early on in my career was this sort of like doggy breath term. And it just made it sound, like, cute and normal. That's not actually doggy breath. That's disease breath. And that completely shifts the perception, I think. And truly, that's what halitosis is. It's volatile sulfur compounds due to the breakdown of tissue, which is really icky when you say that. But unfortunately, that's the reality.

10:25

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So how in the world do we address this halitosis pet dental health conundrum?

10:30

Jordan Tyler

We touched a little bit on the mechanical abrasion piece of this. Right? It's important that we're getting something in there that's breaking up that plaque, so that it doesn't have the opportunity to build into tartar or gingivitis or calculus. These are all words that I'm just saying, and I'm not a dentist, so I hope I'm using them correctly. But that's what we do to our own teeth, so it makes sense that would be the gold standard for our pet's teeth. So, let's learn a little bit more about that from Dr. Thompson, who said she's like Liam Neeson with a toothbrush.

11:08

Dr. Amy Thomson

I will find you and give you a toothbrush. That is that is me. I love talking about toothbrushing. And the reason I love talking about it is at least twofold. One, it's the absolute gold standard for at home oral hygiene, obviously for ourselves, but also for our pets. The bacteria in periodontal disease or in plaque, in that film on our pet's teeth, on our teeth, they basically link arms and they're just like, “We are here to stay.” And that can organize within about twelve to eighteen hours. So, they're efficient. So that's why the daily brushing is important to break that down. And we need mechanical debridement. So, we need those toothbrush bristles to break that down.

11:54

Dr. Amy Thomson

Because then if it sits there, then it's actually the saliva or the minerals in our own saliva or a pet's saliva that then calcify that plaque film, which is why we call it calculus or sometimes it's called tartar, and that happens within about 24 to 36 hours. So, if we're not doing something each day, yeah… they, like, are down to business. They're working quickly there. And so, then there's like a lot of like diets and toys and things like that are designed to sort of similarity try to break down that film. And then another course of action if we can't get them mechanical debridement is something called chelation or binding the minerals. So, it's not disrupting the film or the plaque, but it's decreasing the amount of minerals floating around that then can latch on to that film. So, those tend to be the two different ways that oral hygiene products will work.

12:53

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So, we keep talking about brushing teeth, but how do we go about brushing our pet's teeth?

13:00

Dr. Amy Thomson

And so the first thing I would tell pet parents is like, “Great. We're not going to put the toothbrush in their mouth.” And they look at me like, “What? How are you going to toothbrush?” Very gently, I'm right-handed, so I'll like, I make an L with my left hand, and then I do my thumb under their chin and my index finger over their muzzle. So, I'm not obstructing their view. They can still see and then just very gently holding their mouth closed so they can keep their teeth clenched. So, then the brush isn't making it into their mouth and hitting the roof of the mouth or their tongue, which they hate, right?

13:32

Dr. Amy Thomson

Like it's a natural reaction, like you try and shove something in a dog or cat's mouth, they're going to spit it out and then sliding between the cheek and the and brushing the outside surfaces. So, like that's what we're going to build to. And then the first question I always get is like, well, what about the insides of the teeth? And I'm very honest with owners, brushing all the surfaces of your pet's teeth is what I consider to be like Olympic-level toothbrushing. We are not all meant to go to the Olympics and that is absolutely fine. You’ve got to walk before you can run kind of thing. So, I just want to focus on it being every day.

14:10

Dr. Amy Thomson

And if we can get there and consistently and it's a positive thing, then we can talk about giving them something to hold in their mouth to hold it open so we can kinda sink in. Consistency is far more beneficial than intensity, I guess. So, I'm quite happy if we're doing the outside surface is every single day. But what we're going to start with is just like touching their mouth. And I encourage pet owners to just like touch their mouth. I encourage them to use like a word, like “teeth,” and then give them a treat. So, unlike you and I, where we're like brush the teeth, no eating, I'm like feed them while you're doing it, feed them after you're doing it. Because most pets are very food motivated, like myself… Like, will do anything for a treat.

14:58

Dr. Amy Thomson

So, just starting really small, and then they get used to like, oh, they touch my mouth, it doesn't hurt, and then I get a cookie. Amazing. And then, you know, we build up to like, “Okay, well now we're going to lift the lip and like touch a tooth.” And then, you know, after a couple days or a week, “Okay, we're going to like touch a tooth with the toothbrush.” So, it's going to take a while to get to the actual brushing, but every interaction is positive.

15:23

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So, for all of you just tuning in case you have not heard, tooth brushing is the gold standard for the halitosis, the plaque, the tartar, and the periodontal disease prevention. But luckily, there are other products. They may not work as well as tooth brushing, but there's products like chews and additives. What the heck is an additive? And dental diets. You can eat a diet and still have clean teeth. What if we had dental diets as humans?

15:50

Jordan Tyler

I'm telling you, man, this stuff with pets really gets you thinking about, you know, like how nice would it be. I'm not saying I'm one of these people, but there are people out there that don't love eating. Like, it's a chore for them. And there's a market, I'm telling you, for a complete-and-balanced, like bar or something, like a kibble. Like a… I'm telling you.

16:14

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Could you imagine, like, “How'd you get so strong? Oh, he ate his Wheaties.” And it's like, “How did you get such great teeth? I ate my Wheaties.” That mechanical action, just abrasion going on.

16:25

Jordan Tyler

ch he sold to Mars Petcare in: 2006

16:58

Dr. Joe Roetheli

I knew I wanted to do something that really did three things for dogs. Gum disease, It's a real issue. We have 54 million dogs with gum disease. So that's 60% of all dogs walking around have gum disease. And part of that stinky breath our dogs had was really related to the gum disease. Obesity—there's another 41 million dogs that are overweight. And then obstructions, dogs choking. And I was mowing one day. Dog was running a side tractor with me, and I had this lightning bolt idea. If you would just take basically a hexagonal hockey puck wide and flat and slap a bee's nest on both sides of it, that would do everything you want to do. And so I go, “Holy cow. I’ve got to pursue this.” And I was off to the races on that.

17:53

Dr. Joe Roetheli

And so that was basically the inspiration for Yummy Combs. We have had examples where an entire tooth, the tartar got totally taken off. At one time, it just scraped that whole surface off. And that's what the combination of the design of the product and the hardness combined gets to where we can actually remove some of the tartar.

18:21

Jordan Tyler

Veterinary Dentistry in July: 2024

19:06

Dr. Joe Roetheli

And so the dog's going to bite into it, teeth going to go down in those cells and it's going to get scraped and flossed and scrubbed. And we also build them with the help of a board-certified veterinary dentist. We built these wider than the throat so the dog can't gulp them. They have to chew them before they can gulp them. And so everybody says, “Yeah, but they could, you know, chunk a piece off and still get it lodged in their throat.” And I say, “Absolutely correct.” And here are the four things we did to avoid that from being a really traumatic, dangerous, costly experience. First of all, you'll note that the walls of this are very thin. Even on this extra-large [chew], they're just barely over a quarter of an inch thick at the thickest point of the product.

19:55

Dr. Joe Roetheli

So, we can bake them very quickly, in less than a minute. We have a special ingredient in here that in addition to the thin walls helps dissolve the product quickly, which is important from the gulping kind of perspective, so it's soft and pliable and air can get through the passage and it can dissolve. So Yummy Combs, if you put—lay them out with other products, really stands out because it's such a totally different shape. And to a large degree, shape makes the difference in this product. It is very important to the dental part of it. It's extremely important to the obstruction part of it, and it's backed with great nutrition. So, that's kind of the essence of how this comes together.

20:46

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Another popular brand, WHIMZEES, is known for its fun-loving take. We're talking hedgehogs, gators, chews shaped like toothbrushes. Meet Greg Kean, senior vice president of innovation and nutrition, and Alyssa Franford, senior manager of nutritional performance. These two have a combined 30 with Wellness Pet Company developing its WHIMZEES dental chew portfolio for both dogs and cats.

21:13

Greg Kean

WHIMZEES is about fun. We focus on fun shapes, everything from like a toothbrush product we call BRUSHZEES to cool little sort of animal type creatures like Herman the Hedgehog or alligators. So, you know, we like to have products that are both fun and functional. So, we really have a dental treat for every breed size, for every pet parent that's looking to have a little bit more fun and engagement for their pet through, whether it's color or shape. And then we also have products for cats, which are really focused on porous, crunchy treats to address dental issues in cats, as well.

21:53

Jordan Tyler

So, how can we tell if a dental chew product is actually going to work?

21:58

Greg Kean

We know from talking to consumers that believability in any realm of oral care outside of brushing, which is seen as the gold standard, does have somewhat of an uphill sort of battle in the consumer's mind. Will these work? Will they be efficacious? There's a lot of great technologies that are on the horizon that I think—I love where other sort of chemical agents are being or biological agents are being used as mechanisms to address oral care, but at this point in time mechanical abrasion is the gold standard and consumers really want to know. You can't just say that your product works, have to have some data and some support behind that.

22:47

Alyssa Franford

We do chew time testing, which measures how much time the dog is interacting with the chew and actively chewing it. We also do dental efficacy studies, which measure plaque, gingivitis, tartar reduction… And for any of those studies, we're also measuring, with different metrics, how much the dogs are enjoying that as well. So, balancing that fun, we're always measuring how much they're eating. And the chew time tests give us great insight into their enjoyment as well. They do behavioral analysis as well, to see how they're interacting with that chew. Are they taking it between their paws? Are they hitting different areas of their mouth? So those really deliver some good insights between the efficacy and the fun.

23:36

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Fascinating. What about your cat dental products? How do they differ from a research and development standpoint from dog dental treats?

23:44

Greg Kean

Certainly with cat, it's not going to work if they don't like it. So, palatability became really one of the, you know, top two focuses of that product. Number one was the texture of the product, it had to have a lower density, more porous type structure so that the teeth can penetrate the piece, not necessarily break so it can get some of that cleaning before it actually then splits and breaks. That was number one. Number two was palatability. I don't want to say dogs will eat anything, but they are less discerning, for sure. Nobody really wants to get in there and it's a scary proposition, you know, cats don't want you really intervening in that way. So, having a product to address that is obviously important for the cat, but as important for the pet owner, cat owner.

24:42

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. I value my life. I'm sure you value your life. I'm not going anywhere near my cat's mouth with a toothbrush.

24:49

Greg Kean

Definitely not. But they also have to be super tasty. I know, Alyssa, you ran all of the palatability studies for the cat trials. I mean, went through how many rounds of testing there?

25:01

Alyssa Franford

Many rounds of testing to make sure they were the tastiest version that they could be, that the cats were eating, you know, a certain number of treats, so that we're able to get that crunch time.

25:14

Jordan Tyler

So, now that we know a little bit more about the WHIMZEES portfolio, and some of the testing, and thinking you guys do around this as you're developing it, how would you suggest a pet owner actually start using these products? Whether it's a WHIMZEES product or just like a dental chew in general.

25:30

Alyssa Franford

Number one that comes to mind is choosing the right size for your pet. The WHIMZEES come in a variety of sizes for the dog chews, and it's important, too, from a safety perspective, to choose the right size for your pet within that weight range that's right there in the package.

25:48

Jordan Tyler

Dr. Thompson, AKA “Toothy Thompson,” says that she's all for mixing and matching dental care methods. Because again, getting that toothbrush in there can be hard, but something is always going to better than nothing.

26:02

Dr. Amy Thomson

So, I'm all for adding things in. So, like my personal pet gets her teeth brushed most days. I am only human and I am not perfect, but the goal is daily and it happens most days. But she's also on a type of dental diet. So we can, like, layer these things, right? Periodontal disease and obesity are like neck and neck for the most common diseases we see in our pets. We do see these diseases a lot concurrently in pets. So yeah, it is something just to keep in mind that some of these treats and diets even are going to be higher calories.

26:39

Dr. Amy Thomson

So we just want to account for that, like you say, if we're using these either as a sole option or in conjunction with others, so that we're not running into overweight and then, you know, the extra strain on the cardiovascular system or the musculoskeletal system, you know, that can definitely cause issues. So, I think it's really important that as pet parents or as veterinarians, we make sure that our pet parents understand that if we're using an alternative tooth brushing, we're not going to expect the same result.

27:13

Dr. Stephanie Clark

What Dr. Thompson means here is tooth brushing, guess what? It's the gold standard! And can be stacked with dental chews, water additives—you name it—to improve results. But only administering a dental chew can't be expected to perform on par with tooth brushing. That's the equivalent of us chewing gum and expecting to have the same results as brushing our teeth. Similarly, giving a dental chew once a week, right, better than nothing. But don't expect to see similar results or amazing results for that matter. The benefits that we see from dental chews are only attainable if given every single day.

27:53

Dr. Stephanie Clark

But hey, the good news is we have more tools than ever. Things like water additives, enzymatic gels, and even postbiotics. The catch you say? You have to use them right. Science tells us that water additives can actually reduce plaque by 50%, but that study only looked at it after professional cleaning. Once that plaque hardens into tartar, a water additive isn't going to do the heavy lifting. Think of it more as a support crew. The takeaway here is that chemical and biological tools are force multipliers, not replacements for a toothbrush. If you can't brush daily, don't give up though. They work best when they're layered together, not acting as a solo act.

28:37

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And remember, when it comes to dental health especially, doing something consistently is way better than doing nothing perfectly.

28:46

Jordan Tyler

That's an excellent point, Dr. Steph. And hey, we get it. Between all the chews and the supplements and the diets and other products that are out there, it can be hard to figure out where to start or even where to go next. Luckily, there's a great resource out there for you to rely on. It's the Veterinary Oral Health Council or VOHC. And here is Dr. Thomson sharing a bit more about what it offers for pet parents.

29:13

Dr. Amy Thomson

So, it is a group of veterinary dentists that review the studies and the literature on these products to make sure that they've done testing to say, like, is this product better than nothing, basically. And there has to be a minimum level of plaque or calculus or both that is reduced for it to get a seal of approval. So, when owners are asking me for products, I'll be honest, even as a veterinary dentist going into the pet store, I find it very overwhelming. There are so many products, because now we're a lot more aware of the importance of oral health, but it can be very intimidating. I tend to guide owners to the vohc.org website, because if we're going to be spending money on a product, I just feel better knowing that we've got some literature and some review of the product. That is not to say that a product not on the list won't be helpful. I just don't know if it will be.

30:12

Dr. Bradley Quest

Now having said that, there are products out there that, you know, have done efficacy testing too that don't necessarily have the VOHC seal. So, you know, when folks ask me about a product, if it doesn't have a seal on it, you know, I usually recommend, you know, contact the manufacturer and ask them, have you all done any efficacy testing with your product to show that it actually does what you're claiming that it does? And if they have, you know, ask them to share it. And, you know, in most cases, they should be able to do that, and you'll know that it actually does help.

30:46

Jordan Tyler

But it's also important to remember that each dog is an individual, each cat is an individual, each pet is an individual, and periodontal disease develops differently for every dog, every cat, every animal, every human. So, you may give a dental chew every day. You may brush your dog's teeth every day. But that doesn't necessarily mean you don't need to think about regular dental checkups with your veterinarian.

31:10

Dr. Bradley Quest

Being a veterinarian, especially a veterinarian that, you know, works on developing dental products, you know, people have a fear of, you know, having their dog's teeth cleaned, and I get it. You know, anesthetic or anesthesia can be, you know, scary because who doesn't know someone who has a story or, you know, whatever. But I will tell you that the care in the veterinary field has advanced in almost all cases. The anesthetic regimens used are going to be almost exactly the same, you know, that we would use if, you know, went into our own physicians or a surgeon and had a procedure done. And along with that, have your veterinarian, and most of them are going to recommend it or even require it, you know, do some blood work before you have the dental done, you know, make sure your pet’s healthy.

32:05

Dr. Bradley Quest

What I'm trying to really say is don't be afraid, you know, to have these procedures done, you know. Talk to your veterinarian about it. Make sure you're comfortable, you know, with it because there's a lot of dogs and cats that that have, you know, anesthetic procedures, dental procedures done all the time, and they're just fine. Just make sure you're comfortable with it. You talk about these things with your veterinarian. You make sure that, you know, you're comfortable with everything that they recommend.

32:35

Jordan Tyler

Think about it: we brush our teeth every day (some of us more than others, I'm sure) and we still get cavities. Right? We still have to go to the dentist and get our teeth professionally cleaned every six months or so to stave off that dental disease and stay ahead of any discomfort. And we have to do this with our pets too. Not as often, but it's considered best practice to have your pet's teeth checked once per year so your vet can help you track progress (or damage) and intervene before things get more complicated. I wanted to close this out today by debunking some common myths. So, we already at the top of the episode talked a little bit about how there's a myth that dogs mouths are cleaner than our mouths. Yeah, that ain't true. It's just not true. But there are plenty of other myths.

33:25

Jordan Tyler

Like this first one, I think is interesting and Dr. Quest is going to give us the scoop, but it goes like this: Duration of a dental chew doesn't always translate to the level of benefit.

33:37

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Say what?

33:39

Jordan Tyler

Fact or fiction? Dr. Quest, what do you think?

33:41

Dr. Bradley Quest

What I have found is that duration doesn't necessarily equal efficacy. It might, but, you know, the pets need to chew them some. I like to describe, like a dental chew, an ideal texture, at least in my experience, is tough. And tough doesn't necessarily equal hard. Think of tough, it's not something that you can easily break, but you can, you know, you can bend it, it has some give to it, and we want to try to avoid tooth fractures because, you know, that's something that we can see with products, you know, especially some of these, you know, animal parts I call them, the antlers, hooves, you know, actual bones and things like that. Even though they might be good, it actually might be good for the pet's oral health, it does come with other, you know, potential problems too.

34:32

Dr. Bradley Quest

If I can't indent it with my fingernail, it may be too hard, or to your point, if I wrap it on my knee and it hurts, it might be too hard.

34:46

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, it's like Goldilocks, right? Not too soft, not too hard, but just right.

34:51

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Dry food cleans teeth. Ooh. A: 2006

35:10

Dr. Bradley Quest

There really isn't any definitive research to show that. Now, there's some research that shows when you compare it to a wet diet alone that there might be less plaque formation, but not a lot of definitive research there. But there definitely is research there when you feed a mechanical, you know, lighter density, expanded type kibble that's, you know, designed for that, it definitely can help oral health.

35:44

Jordan Tyler

So bringing us to our next dental health myth: Small dogs don't need dental cleanings.

35:51

Dr. Stephanie Clark

If it's anything, they're the ones that need it.

35:54

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, truly. Yeah. Smaller dogs actually have more crowded mouths. So, like same number of teeth, smaller number of space, lots of room for things to go wrong in there. And then you think about a lot of smaller breeds are also brachycephalic, which means that they have like the smushed faces and their respiratory systems are all kind of a little sketchy in there. These dogs are especially prone to dental disease as well. So, yeah, this ain't true.

36:21

Dr. Amy Thomson

It's actually a common misconception that it's the bacteria itself that causes, like, the decay and the disease, which is not the case. It's our own body's immune system response to that. So, we can have pets that have very similar appearing plaque and calculus and gingivitis or inflammation of the gum and have very different overall periodontal health.

36:47

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Excellent point. And this brings us to our next myth: Only senior pets get dental disease.

36:53

Dr. Amy Thomson

Periodontal disease is there. Like, it's just lurking in the shadows. It's going to be there. And it's progressive. Right? So, it's constantly progressing, unfortunately. So doing as much as we can at home is great. That's decrease the burden of disease. However, there's still going to be disease. And disease is as soon as we get inflammation of the guns. So, a cleaning in and of itself is a treatment of disease. Because if we remove all of that plaque and calculus, we've removed the stimulus for that inflame inflammation.

37:30

Jordan Tyler

We know from research, this is established that between 80% and 90% of dogs will develop periodontal disease in some form or fashion—you know, it could be really early onset, it could be more developed—but they will develop some kind of periodontal disease by the time they turn 3 years old. So, this stuff, this is happening in the mouth. It's invisible. We can't see it, but it's happening all the time. It's working against us and our pets all the time. And it certainly does not discriminate against age, against breed, size, weight, or anything else.

38:04

Greg Kean

We eat every day, so, you know, stuff could accumulate. So, addressing that on a daily basis and, you know, knocking down the growth potential of any biofilms is critical.

38:15

Jordan Tyler

Alright. That was a ton of information, so let's recap. Dental health is a whole-body health issue. When plaque, bacteria, and inflammation build up in the mouth, they don't stay there. They enter the bloodstream, put stress on the kidneys and the liver, and can even contribute to heart disease. The bottom line? Doggy breath isn't normal. It's a sign that something harmful is happening under that gumline.

38:42

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Secondly, a consistent routine beats perfection every time. Brushing daily is better than brushing weekly; brushing weekly is better than never brushing; and giving a daily dental chew is certainly better than doing nothing at all. Forward progress, even in baby steps, is what matters most.

39:02

Jordan Tyler

That said, not all pet dental health interventions are created equally. Daily toothbrushing is the gold standard, as we've said about 20,000 times in this episode. But trust us when we say it's not realistic for everyone. There are tons of products on the market, from enzymatic water additives to postbiotics to long lasting chews. And the Veterinary Oral Health Council or VOHC Seal is a great place to start searching for products that have been clinically proven.

39:31

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And if a pet dental product doesn't have the VOHC seal, ask the manufacturer if they perform efficacy testing. You deserve clear answers and your pet deserves products that actually do what they promise.

39:45

Jordan Tyler

And finally, remember the payoff. Better breath, better comfort, and a happier, healthier pet who's protected from problems long before they become much larger, much more complex, and much more expensive to treat. Prevention is not only the most compassionate choice; it's also the most cost effective one.

40:05

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Here's your challenge for the week folks, in case you weren't busy enough. Schedule that dental checkup. Yes, for you, yourself. And then schedule one for your pet, too. Then pick one habit—just one—to start soon. It could be beginning a tooth brushing routine or maybe pick a trusted chew, supplement or diet. What's most important is that you stick with it, kind of like how plaque sticks to our teeth. Yeah. You get it. Right?

40:32

Jordan Tyler

And if you're a brand listening, know that BSM Partners can support you with formulation work, VOHC compliance, and product development that truly moves the needle for pet health.

40:42

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Barking Mad. If you want to learn more about BSM Partners, please visit us at www.bsmpartners.net. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite leading podcast platform or share it with a friend to stay current on the latest pet industry trends and conversations.

41:05

Jordan Tyler

Thanks again to Dr. Amy Thompson, Dr. Bradley Quest, Dr. Joe Raitley, Greg Kean, and Alyssa Franford for sharing their time and insights with us today. We'd also like to thank our dedicated team: Ada-Miette Thomas, Neeley Bowden, Kait Wright, Cady Wolf, Anna Guilfoyle, and Jacob Parker. A special shout out to Lee Ann Hagerty and Michael Johnson in support of this episode, and to David Perez for our original music in the intro and outro. See you next time!