Do any of you get your dogs' teeth cleaned at the vet on a regular or semi-regular basis or ever? Our vet recommended Zoey have her teeth cleaned this year by him, but I hate to do it for a couple reasons.

1. They have to completely put her out to do it and I hate to do that anymore than necessary.
2. It's so darn expensive and her teeth don't look that bad to me and nothing is bother her in her mouth either.

The girls get raw meaty bones from time to time to clean their teeth, no canned food, all kibble, and I've bought some new "dental" treats for them. Should I listen to the vet on this and have her teeth cleaned at some point this year? What would you do?

can you post pics of her teeth?

Yep, I can do that this weekend. Good idea!

I haven't done it on a regular basis but I did have my previous dogs teeth cleaned a few times, especially my terrier who had some teeth issues... He had a tooth root abcess once which took a long time to get diagnosed and when it finally was he had to have several teeth pulled.
My Golden had very good/clean teeth and I was also able to scale them myself at home as needed since she was so laid back; I used something called a "plaque eraser".
I don't take them in for teeth cleaning on a regular basis because I hate to put them under anesthesia unless it is really needed and my vet generally does not recommend it unless they have a lot of plaque or other dental issues. I've been able to keep my dogs' teeth pretty clean at home by doing things like brushing their teeth, using an oral spray, and giving raw chew bones.

I would suggest giving one of the sprays a try, I used to use Petz Life spray on my previous dogs and it really got rid of any plaque. I haven't used it regularly with Bianca but the bones seem to do the job for her. Bianca has no plaque and she is almost 6 years old. My vet said her gums looked a little irritated at her last vet check though so my vet suggested I start brushing her teeth.

I scale my dog's teeth myself. If she'll let you, I would just do it on my own... too many risks with anesthesia, IMO.

Never had to but all my dogs get bones(knuckle or marrow),every 2 weeks!.

Me neither I do not have their teeth cleaned because of the anesthesia either.

Marrisa you might want to try to the strawberry routine. Zubin was getting close to needing a teeth cleaning on his far back teeth, and the strawberries cleared it up within days. It also helped the teeth in general whiten up.

I made a thread on it and how you do it. Strawberries and teeth cleaning..

I'm going to try that strawberry trick with mine. The RMB's take care of a lot of their dental hygiene needs but it never hurts to try this for the areas that seem to build up a bit more.

With him it was his far back teeth. But I was also surprised as I had not noticed the teeth were not " pearly white" before until we did this. I also give one to the girls too as a preventative.
I found rubbing the strawberry on the teeth, then deny food or water for like 20 minutes works perfect! ( no drinking water so it doesn't wash the strawberry off too soon. )

We use the Petslife spray and gel and it's worked very well. www.petzlife.com