Firstly, we need to understand the impact of healthy teeth and gums vs unhealthy teeth and gums. What people don’t realize is that, just like the way your dog’s diet affects their gut, the same food that is travelling through their mouths affects their teeth. This then creates a ripple effect back into the biome. In other words, what our dogs eat matters, all the way through the digestive process.

The microbiome begins in the mouth which means keeping your dog’s mouth ‘microbially balanced’ is super important. The mouth is the entrance way to the gastrointestinal tract. We want to maintain a healthy oral cavity to give your dog the best start on his overall health. The mouth is where we need to already start thinking about maintaining a healthy gut and establishing a healthy balance of beneficial bacteria.

The Effects of Diet
Before we even look at brushing teeth, we have to understand that healthy teeth come from a healthy diet. Think back to before our dog’s became domesticated. Their natural, species appropriate diet did not come out of a tin or shaped into dry biscuits. These wild dogs also did not need their teeth brushed! Why? Because the foods that they ate helped clean their teeth and helped keep their microbiome healthy (essentially cleaning out the entire body just through eating the correct foods). In the wild, dogs would not have been eating high carb diets and they shouldn’t be doing so now. Carbohydrates break down into sugar in the body which can cause many problems for our dogs.

In the wild, the species appropriate foods they were eating were high fibre diets such as muscle meat, organs and bones. In most domestic homes, however, they are instead fed kibble which is low in fibre and nutrients and difficult to digest. On top of this it is lacking the micro-organisms you would get in the wild. Using MicroMed oral probiotic can help to re-establish that healthy biome in the mouth. Dog’s, by design, should be eating raw food. Raw meaty bones contain natural enzymes that help resist bacterial plaque and are excellent for cleaning their teeth. Bones are good for chewing and the chewing actually helps to clean the gums. A raw food diet along with MicroMed probiotics is the best way to ensure your dog’s gut health and overall health.

Toothpaste and Clean Teeth
When we think about the entire dog and his healthy biome, we can understand that feeding a species appropriate diet is the way to go and NOT by using anti-bacterial toothpastes that kill all bacteria (good and bad) and disrupt the natural mouth biome. What we want to be doing instead of using toothpaste is to use MicroMed probiotics daily on our dogs’ teeth.

Probiotics are a wonderful, natural way to take control of our dog’s health in our own homes. Simply dip your toothbrush into your MicroMed Oral Probiotics (a rubber/silicon finger toothbrush is ideal) and brush your dogs’ teeth with it daily. You will be incorporating all those good bacteria directly onto the teeth and gums.

If you want to go that one step further you can do a weekly brush with a natural, home-made toothpaste too.

Here’s a recipe for a home-made toothpaste:

1Tbs Baking Soda
1Tbs Bentonite Clay
1 Drop Peppermint Essential Oil (Note: if you are a cat owner please swap this with 1-2 Drops of Myrrh as Peppermint Essential Oil is toxic for cats)
Coconut Oil to make it into a paste

Mix all ingredients together and use once a week in between MicroMed applications.

To Sum it Up:
The most important thing to remember is that our ultimate goal is always to start with the overall health of your dog in mind. Make sure their diet is balanced, make sure they are receiving their probiotics for their gut health and then make sure that their teeth are kept sparkly, fresh and thriving on all those good bacteria. Keep your dog sparkling inside and out!