Dog Dental Care: How Wolves Keep Their Teeth Clean

Just like humans, dog dental care is vital for oral and overall dog health. Without a clear dog tooth decay prevention strategy, most dogs will be unable to eat solid food too soon.

The other day, I was at the park with Pixie and Bruno when I overheard my neighbor, Andrea, chatting with another dog mom. She was holding her nose dramatically while talking about her French Bulldog, Stella, “I swear, it smells like a trash can,” she said. "I brush her teeth sometimes, but she hates it. And don’t even get me started on vet cleanings. They cost more than my car payment.” Then her tone turned softer as she lamented, "I just want to be able to cuddle with her like we used to."

I get it. Brushing a dog's teeth is no fun. Good luck if you don't start when they're puppies. The good news is that I found out how to clean a dog's teeth naturally. And instead of running away, my dogs love it.

Why Dog Dental Care Matters

• Bad breath – That classic “doggy breath” is often a sign of bacteria and decay. It's one thing for dog breath to smell like chewed-up kibble after a meal, which isn't the best smell in the world. It's another thing if the breath smells bacterial, like rotting meat.
• Plaque and tartar buildup leads to painful inflammation and infections.
• Gum disease (periodontal disease) affects most dogs by age three if left untreated.
• Tooth loss – Advanced decay can make chewing painful and lead to missing teeth. If you hear squishy noises when they eat, they're trying to adjust to reduce pain. Please talk to your vet.
• Internal health risks – Bacteria from gum infections can enter the bloodstream and affect major organs. Cardiac Endocarditis (Heart Inflammation) is a life-threatening disease linked to poor oral health.

How to Clean a Dog’s Teeth Naturally

Without further ado, here's what you need to know about dog tooth decay prevention. To discover this trick, I looked at what my dogs' ancestral wolves do to clean their teeth.

In the wild, losing your teeth is a death sentence for a predator like the wolf. So, they have developed instinctual behaviors to protect their teeth.

Wolves chew on bones and fibrous connective tissues after a meal. This habit is so ingrained in dogs that if I don't give them something acceptable to chew on, they may engage in destructive chewing to get their fix.

So, if we want to learn how to clean a dog's teeth naturally, we should do it like wolves and wild dogs do. Are you with me?

But how do bones clean teeth? I had to find out.

How Chewing on Bones Prevents Dog Dental Problems

Chewing on bones naturally scrapes away plaque. Hard chews like marrow-filled dog bones or fibrous connective tissue chew like beef trachea dental chews can do the same for your pup.

Why dog bones are vital for dog dental care:

• Bristle-like action - The abrasive texture helps clean teeth while they chew like bristles on a toothbrush. These natural dog toothbrushes scrape away plaque and tartar.
• Fewer Bacteria - This effect is quantifiable. Chewing on bones can reduce the bacteria count in a dog's mouth by 60-80% in just 12 weeks.
• Reduce mouth acidity - Bacteria turn food particles into acid, damaging enamel, irritating gums, and making breath smell like fermented food. Fermentation is good if we're talking about kimchi and saur kraut—not good in a dog's mouth.

Marrow bones and trachea chews also keep dogs engaged, reducing stress and boredom. This stops the destructive chewing dogs engage in when they don't have a bone to chew at least a couple of times a week.

They last longer than most chews, making them a great natural toothbrush.

K9 Connoisseur’s grass-fed marrow bones are one of the best dental chews for dogs. They’re single-ingredient (just grass-fed beef bones), long-lasting, and free from preservatives or artificial junk.

Other Tips for Dog Tooth Decay Prevention

1. Feed Them Crunchy Foods

To supplement dog bone chewing and fiber intake, consider adding crunchy food to their diet.

Apples, green beans, and carrots can also help dogs clean teeth. Many people don't realize this, but dogs aren't carnivores. In the wild, they eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

When my dog's marrow bones are empty, I refill them with something like sugar-free yogurt or peanut butter with diced-up apples or blueberries.

2. Give Them Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Some foods are anti-inflammatory and rich in cancer-fighting antioxidants. These foods can help the immune system manage inflammation to reduce the risk of tooth loss.

Pumpkin, butternut squash, and sweet potato should be on the menu occasionally for this reason.

Foods that contain omega-3 healthy fats are also very anti-inflammatory. These foods include fish, flax, chia, and grass-fed beef treats like marrow bones.

Just for the record, grass-fed beef has 2.5X the omega 3 compared to grain-fed cattle.

3. Avoid Added Sugar

Many dog treats contain added sugar— instant bacteria fuel. When bacteria access simple sugars, they can reproduce rapidly, overwhelming the immune system.

Sadly, even treats marketed as "dental chews" often have sugar in them because they need the dog to chew on them for them to work. Dogs have a sweet tooth, too!

The best dental chews for dogs have 0 added sugar. In fact, they have nothing added because they are naturally tasty.

Dogs love meat. They love real beef dog bones and beef organ training treats like beef lung bites.

When you give your dog the good stuff, there is no need for potentially harmful additives.

All-natural, single-ingredient grass-fed beef marrow dog bones and dog treats are what I choose for my dogs' dental health.

4. Avoid Soft Sticky Training Treats

Training treats that are soft or sticky almost always contain either added sugar or refined grains (which almost instantly break down into sugar). So stick with crunchy treats like roasted beef lung training treats.

My dogs love these organ meat treats. They don't smell (to us humans). And I can break one apart easily into 4-5 pieces for training sessions.

My terrier, Pixie, even learned to do backflips for these. She loves training sessions and knows so many dog commands now because I use positive reinforcement training (treats and praise).

By the way, have you signed up for the Free 7-Day Dog Training Challenge yet? Everyone in my neighborhood is doing it.

As a quick aside, I'll share a dark secret about Pixie. When we first brought her home from the shelter, she had that nasty breath like Stella, the Frenchie at the start of my post, had. After just 12 weeks of following my advice on how to clean a dog's teeth naturally, I could finally cuddle with her. No stinky breath.

I shared my experience with my neighbor Andrea. And now, she has Stella chewing on dog bones. And I'll report back later.

5. Talk to Your Vet

I don't want to forget the importance of speaking with your vet. If your dog has severely decayed teeth, they may need to be pulled to provide relief.

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