1. ARK Naturals Chewable Brushless Toothpaste
Why do you need the best dog toothpaste?
Believe it or not, dogs need dental care as much as we do. If you want to keep your dog’s teeth and gums nice and healthy, you should use the best dog toothpaste. Dog toothpaste is similar to human toothpaste, but there are some key differences. For one, dog toothpaste is meant to be swallowed without harming your dog, since your dog doesn’t really know how to spit all of it out.
Dog toothpaste doesn’t have harmful chemicals like sodium lauryl sulfate or xylitol, which are in human toothpaste and likely harmful to your body or at least give you an upset stomach if swallowed. Dog toothpaste also comes in more agreeable flavors for the dog like fruit flavor or peanut butter. Ideally, you should be brushing your dog’s teeth 2 or 3 times a week. We think one of the biggest misconceptions out there is that dogs don’t need to clean their teeth because they are always healthy.
Like humans, dogs can build up tartar, calculus, and plaque on their gums and teeth, so it is important to remove them frequently before they spread and lead to cavities or gum disease. To help your dog avoid dental diseases, you can also give it dental chews. The best dog toothpaste will be environmentally safe and promote healthy gums for your dog. They usually require no rinse and do not foam up so they are safe to swallow. We recommend getting dog toothpaste made mostly from all-natural ingredients and from various oils and extracts. If you want to know more about how to pick the best dog toothpaste, please see our buyer’s guide below.
Best Dog Toothpaste
- ARK Naturals Chewable Brushless Toothpaste (Top Pick)
- SENTRY Petrodex Enzymatic Toothpaste for Dogs
- Nylabone Advanced Oral Care Natural Peanut Flavored Dog Toothpaste
1. ARK Naturals Chewable Brushless Toothpaste
If you think brushing your dog’s teeth is hard and annoying, we have some good news. What if I told you that you don’t have to do any of that? Ark Naturals makes the best dog toothpaste if you don’t even want to bother with a toothbrush.
There are 12 of these chews in this bag and all your dog has to do is eat them to brush its teeth. This award-winning chewable dental solution for your dog is made with mostly all-natural ingredients. It tastes like alfalfa, cinnamon, vanilla, and cloth, which helps freshen your dog’s breath.
It has sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate to help abrasive action. All of the dogs we have tried it on take it and love it. This chewable toothpaste helps fight the build-up of tartar, plaque, and bacteria.
And don’t worry, your dog will not ingest the entire thing whole, as it is too big. The Ark Natural Brushless Toothpaste is recommended for dogs that are 12 weeks or older. You can also use it on other pets such as cats. We highly recommend this product as it takes all of the work out of your hands. Brushing your dog’s teeth is really annoying and with these chews, you save a lot of time and work. In terms of efficacy, these chews work just as well as normal dog toothpaste.
2. SENTRY Petrodex Enzymatic Toothpaste for Dogs
If you want the best dog toothpaste that is poultry flavored, the Sentry Petrodex is the right one for your dog. Sentry has one of the best-performing formulas on the market. It helps control plaque, fights bad odor, and is specially formulated to be accepted by most dogs.
We asked someone who works at Sentry why they decided on the poultry flavor. The response was that it is the product of countless hours of research with dogs and they came up with this flavor because of multiple taste experiments with different breeds.
They found out that this particular poultry flavor works best with the most amount of dogs. It sounds like the people at Sentry know what they are doing and we fully trust this brand. You only need a small amount of this stuff to make it work and it does not foam in your dog’s mouth.
Let’s just say there is a reason this is one of the best-selling dog toothpaste on the market. It has proven to work with many dogs and your dogs will like the taste so much that your dog will actually start enjoying the time you spend with your dog brushing his or her teeth.
3. Nylabone Advanced Oral Care Natural Peanut Flavored Dog Toothpaste
If you think your dog will like peanut butter-flavored toothpaste, Nylabone is the best dog toothpaste. The selling point of this toothpaste is the formula and the advanced dental care. It is made with Denta-C, a substance that drastically reduces plaque and bacteria. It is a toothpaste that is designed with performance in mind first.
We found a controlled study that compared Nylobone Advanced Oral Care with other dog toothpaste and the results showed that Nylobone performed 30% better in terms of preventing teeth and gum diseases. The peanut butter taste is also one that is quite well-liked by dogs.
We found that most dogs we tried accepted and liked the peanut butter flavor. Some dogs didn’t seem to like it too much but also did not strongly reject it. With Nylabone, you can rest assured that your dog’s teeth and gums will remain healthy, as long as you brush your dog’s teeth often. Luckily, we did not find too many cases where the dog strongly disliked the taste, so you can rest assured that it will probably work on your dog.
Best Dog Toothpaste – A Buyer Guide
Using the best dog toothpaste on your dog can mean the difference between your dog getting teeth and gum disease or not. In fact, many other diseases such as heart disease can be linked to gum disease. If you want to prolong your dog’s life as well as maintain healthy teeth and gums, you should brush your dog’s teeth at least twice a week.
Brushing your dog’s teeth is a pretty straightforward process. You need to find the right dog toothbrush first. Then with the best dog toothpaste, you should apply it all over your dog’s teeth and gums with your fingers.
At first, you may need to get your dog to lick it off of your fingers to get used to the taste. Next, gently brush your dog’s teeth making sure you get the gums as well. Use a circular motion and if you are holding a toothbrush use light force. The general rule of thumb is to use as much force as you would if you are holding the toothbrush with two fingers.
Most dog toothpaste is non-rinse, so you don’t have to give the dog water afterward. Your dog will most likely swallow the toothpaste later. To figure out what is the best dog toothpaste, please see below for some features to consider before sticking to a brand.
Ingredients
Some of the most common ingredients for dog toothpaste include silica, enzymes, emulsifiers, and sorbitol. Silica is an abrasive that helps remove plaque and tartar. Various enzymes in the toothpaste help kill bacteria in your dog’s mouth.
There are also emulsifiers that are basically salts that prevent and contain the build of tartar in your dog’s mouth and gums. Finally, you have sorbitol, which is a type of natural sweetener found in some fruits. We think the key here is to make sure there are no harmful ingredients such as fluoride or xylitol, because more likely than not, your dog will be swallowing the toothpaste.
Remember, that you absolutely cannot use your toothpaste for your dog unless you want your dog to have an upset stomach. Your toothpaste has harmful chemicals that are not designed to be swallowed. In terms of cleaning power, most dog toothpastes do a similar job and it really depends on how well your brush your dog’s teeth.
Taste
The taste and even the smell of the toothpaste are incredibly important for your dog. The first step to brushing your dog’s teeth is to make sure your dog accepts the toothpaste. If your dog is jerking around and rejects the toothpaste, it doesn’t matter how good the toothpaste cleans, you won’t be getting that stuff near your dog’s mouth anytime soon.
Of course, the taste is always subjective to your dog’s preferences, but in general, we find that dogs like toothpaste that is sweet or meat flavored. Once you find a brand and a flavor that your dog likes, you should stick to that brand to make it easier for yourself and your dog.
Other features
You may want to consider other features of dog toothpaste such as the ability for the toothpaste to not foam up. Usually, dogs react negatively to toothpaste that foams up, and also it makes it hard for your dog to swallow the foam. Most toothpastes are also rinsed-free so you don’t need to give your dog water to wash it down. Also, you should look for toothpaste with a lot of natural substances because your dog will be ingesting most of them.
