Is it normal for my dog to have brown teeth?
By Dr Joe Inglis BVSc MRCVS
In a word, no. Brown means tartar — and tartar means the start of dental disease.
In a word, no, it’s not normal for a dog’s teeth to be brown – the natural state of a healthy tooth is gleaming white, which is the colour of the outer protective enamel layer. Discolouration usually indicates that there is some degree of dental disease affecting the teeth, and teeth become brown as a result of the build up of tartar (also known as calculus) on the surface.
Dental tartar is a mineralised deposit formed when plaque (the bacterial soup that covers teeth) solidifies. It is made up of the remains of dead bacteria mixed with minerals from saliva such as calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, and magnesium phosphate, and is usually a yellowy brown colour.
Giving your dog an off-white smile is not the main impact of dental tartar, however. As tartar is deposited on the tooth, it provides a rough surface that is ideal for more bacteria to grow on, a process which accelerates the formation of more plaque which turns into more tartar. These bacteria then start to attack the gums, causing inflammation, or gingivitis, leading to red, painful gums that are prone to bleeding. If left untreated, this process leads to periodontal disease, where the ligaments and bone supporting the teeth are gradually destroyed and the tooth becomes loose and ultimately at risk of falling out (or needing to be extracted). In addition, dental bacteria can also enter the blood stream and attack other organs in the body, leading to serious potential health complications directly linked to poor dental hygiene.
If you think your dog has brown teeth, it’s important you take action as soon as possible to prevent dental tartar leading to irreversible periodontal disease, and putting your dog at risk of blood-borne bacterial infections. Unfortunately brushing, even with an ultrasonic toothbrush, does little to remove hardened dental tartar, so while regular brushing is very effective at slowing down the rate of progress of dental tartar build up, it does little to reverse existing deposits.
The only effective way to remove dental tartar and return your dog’s smile to a healthy white colour, is with a full professional dental scale and polish using a special dental ultrasonic cleaning probe. The metal tip of the probe vibrates and cracks away the hardened tartar from the dental surface leaving the teeth clean and white.
As you’ll probably know from having this done by your own dentist, it’s a slightly uncomfortable feeling, and this is why it’s only safe and effective to carry out this kind of cleaning under a general anaesthetic in pets. It’s also vitally important for the cleaning to extend around all sides of the teeth, and below the gum line to remove any tartar deposits hidden in the area between the tooth and the gum, both of which are only possible with a canine or feline patient safely asleep.
The good news is that professional dental cleaning is a very routine procedure nowadays, particularly in dental-only vet practices such as Luna the Dental Vets, where the latest anaesthetic protocols and clinical equipment ensure that it’s an incredibly safe procedure. In almost all circumstances, the benefits of routine dental cleaning outweigh any risks, so it’s definitely worth checking your dog’s teeth on a regular basis and getting them cleaned whenever you notice they are becoming more brown than white.