THE ROLE OF A DENTAL HYGIENE CHEW IN MAINTAINING PERIODONTAL HEALTH IN DOGS

A study was undertaken to determine the effect of a chew, designed to improve dental hygiene, in maintaining peridontal health in the dog. T he accumulation of dental deposits and the development of gingivitis w ere assessed in two groups of dogs; one fed a dry diet only, and the o ther group fed the same dry diet supplemented by the daily addition of the dental hygiene chew. The study demonstrated that the daily additi on of the chew to the dry diet was effective in reducing plaque (at on e week) and calculus (at three weeks) accumulation on the tooth surfac es. The daily addition of the chew also reduced the severity of gingiv itis as compared to feeding the dry diet only. The reduction of the se verity of gingivitis is promising, though ,whether such a reduction wi ll prevent the development of periodontitis or not remains to be shown . Further work is required to establish the long term periodontal heal th benefits of feeding dietary regimens designed to improve dental hyg iene.