Dental Hygiene
Many dog owners are unaware they need to clean their dog's teeth. In fact, it is important to brush your boxer's teeth at least once a week. This addresses the plaque and tartar that builds up on their teeth, and it keeps you abreast of what is going on inside your boxer's mouth. Ideally, you should start looking at your boxer's mouth as a puppy, so he gets used to having you handle his mouth, especially to open it. If you have a show-prospect puppy, you will need to teach him to have his mouth examined regularly in the show ring. This is a good thing to teach any puppy, and it will make your vet's life much easier in giving good care to your boxer.
Dental Hygiene Guidelines
In terms of overall health care, it is particularly important to stay on top of the dental health of your boxer. Brushing his teeth regularly will help keep plaque and tartar at bay. Rather than human toothpaste, use a particularly tasty liver- or chicken-flavored one made especially for dogs.
If you find that your boxer's teeth are brown and dirty, and his breath is smelly, you will need to take him into your vet for a teeth cleaning under anesthesia to get rid of the plaque and to freshen his breath.
The raw-food movement input is that the teeth of dogs that eat raw, meaty bones, or even just raw food with naturally occurring enzymes, are often as clean as teeth coming out of your vet's office after a cleaning. Raw-food advocates use this as one more reason to feed raw food — dental health.
In addition, if you want to get your dog a chew, get one that has nubs on it made specifically for cleaning canine teeth.
Gingival Hyperplasia
One big reason to brush your boxer's teeth at least once a week is that you will then be more aware of a condition that boxer's and other bracycephalic breeds are prone to getting. This is a type of benign tumor called gingival hyperplasia. It is usually found through grooming procedures in taking care of your boxer's teeth. Gingival hyperplasia is sometimes referred to as a gum disease, but gums only become diseased if food and other particles get trapped between the teeth and the tumorous tissue.
One of the first noticeable effects of gingival hyperplasia is that it seems like your boxer's teeth are disappearing. The second is that you may notice your boxer eating more slowly or not eating at all. This is because, once the tissue has grown over the teeth, it hurts to eat. A third effect is that your boxer's breath begins to smell really bad, and this is a result of food and other particles trapped beneath the tumors in the gums. If you notice any of these things, take your boxer to a vet right away.
The bad news is that gingival hyperplasia is a type of tumor that grows over teeth, eventually killing the teeth if the tissue is not removed. Of course, a vet must remove this tissue under anesthesia. If this condition is not addressed, the plaque under the tumors, which is called epulis, can become infected. This, in turn, can affect the heart.
