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Normal chewing cleans the teeth physiologically through abrasion
and "scrub". With natural diets, the action of the cheek
teeth in breaking down tough and fibrous food to swallowable strips
can also help to remove plaque.
Feeding soft, textured foods tends to reduce mechanical abrasion
especially in the buccal surface of the caudal cheek teeth. Dry
foods often offer more abrasion during feeding with a higher salivary
flow.
Bored dogs may chew stones, fences and bones resulting in fractured
teeth, gingival laceration and periodontal disease. Electric burns
may result from chewing cable. Food, foreign body or hair chewing
as a result of pruritic problems can lead to impaction in the sulcus,
causing local tissue irritation.
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