Last updated October 14, 2026
Fresh plaque is soft, and a toothbrush with dog toothpaste gets it off. Brush daily if you can and every other day at the least, because that is the frequency that works in trials. A dental chew your dog chews properly scrapes some plaque off the back teeth as well.
Plaque only stays soft for a few days. After that it hardens into tartar, and no brush, chew, oil or powder will lift it. If the crust on your dog's teeth is already yellow or brown and won't wipe off, the plaque has turned into tartar and needs a cleaning at your vet.
Plaque left in place is also where gum disease begins, and gum disease is by far the most common of the dental diseases dogs get.
Plaque or tartar? Check first
Lift your dog's lip and rub the outside of a back tooth near the gum with a piece of gauze wrapped round your finger. If a pale, sticky film comes away, that's plaque, and home care can deal with it. If the deposit stays put and feels rough or gritty, it's tartar.
After a vet cleaning, plaque bacteria start sticking to the teeth within 24 hours. From about day 3 minerals from saliva start to set in that plaque (Gawor and colleagues, Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, 2025), and it becomes hard tartar within 2 to 12 days (Lowe and Anthony, Canadian Veterinary Journal, 2020).
That timing explains the brushing advice. Brushing every day or two clears the plaque before it sets, while a week between brushes gives some of it time to harden.
Brushing is what gets plaque off
In a controlled trial in beagles, brushing every day or every other day kept plaque, tartar and gum inflammation clearly lower than brushing once a week or once every two weeks (Harvey and colleagues, Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, 2015). Weekly brushing on its own did little.
The gain also fades fast. In a 2024 study, 22 beagles were brushed daily for two weeks and their plaque and gum scores improved. Both scores had slipped back to their starting level two weeks after the brushing ended (Enlund and colleagues, Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, 2024). The tartar score didn't move during the brushing weeks, which fits the rule that brushing removes plaque and not tartar.
Use a soft brush or a finger brush and a toothpaste made for dogs. Human toothpaste is out, because some contain xylitol. The Merck Veterinary Manual lists toothpastes as a xylitol source, and in dogs xylitol can cause a dangerous drop in blood sugar. Work along the gumline on the outer surfaces of the teeth, and keep the first sessions to a few seconds.
If your dog won't accept a brush at all, our guide to cleaning dog teeth without brushing compares the options that need no handling.
What 8 weeks of home care did to teeth that weren't cleaned first
Most dental product trials start with a vet cleaning, so they measure how well a product slows new build-up on clean teeth. Owners searching for how to get rid of plaque usually have the opposite problem. The teeth are already coated.
A 2025 trial tested exactly that (Gawor and colleagues, Journal of Veterinary Dentistry). 125 pet dogs had no dental care for 8 weeks and no cleaning at the start. Then each group followed one routine for 8 weeks while a blinded veterinary dentist scored the worst tooth from 0 to 4.
Brushing every other day and a dental chew once a day both took the worst tooth down by a median of one step on that scale. For the brushed dogs that meant going from a tooth 50 to 75% covered to one 25 to 50% covered. A water additive on its own wasn't clearly better than doing nothing. Adding a daily chew or an additive to weekly brushing also helped.
No routine got the teeth clean, and the authors write that their results shouldn't be read as a reason to skip a vet cleaning when a dog needs one. The trial was also paid for by the company that makes the chew, additive and toothpaste tested, with 15 dogs per group. It is still the closest evidence to the situation most owners are in, and its conclusion matches the brushing trials above. Regular scrubbing, by brush or by chew, is what reduced the coating.
Natural remedies with no trial behind them
Coconut oil is the best-known natural remedy, and we couldn't find a single controlled trial showing it reduces plaque or tartar in dogs. It is also high in fat. A dab as a treat is fine for most dogs, but it can't stand in for the brush.
Baking soda isn't made for dogs and has no trial behind it either, so use dog toothpaste. Raw carrots and apple slices are fine low-calorie snacks, but we found no trial showing they clear plaque.
Raw bones have more behind them than most home remedies. In two small studies of Beagles, a daily piece of beef bone removed most of the visible tartar within two weeks: 70 to 84% in 8 dogs (Marx and colleagues, Australian Veterinary Journal, 2016) and 65 to 90% in 12 dogs (Pinto and colleagues, PLOS ONE, 2020). Both were short lab trials with bones cut to size, so they show the scraping works rather than that bones are risk-free at home. Raw feeders use soft, non-weight-bearing raw bones such as chicken wings and necks. Never cooked bones, which splinter. Dense leg bones such as beef shin or femur, antlers and hard nylon can crack the big back teeth: if you can't dent it with your thumbnail, it's too hard. Pick a size your dog has to chew rather than swallow, stay with it while it eats, and handle raw chicken as you would in your kitchen.
Scrapers and gadgets don't solve it either. Home scraping only reaches the tartar you can see, and it can cut the gums. A 2026 pilot study held an ultrasonic toothbrush, marketed for removing tartar from awake dogs, on two teeth per dog for six minutes each and found no visible reduction in tartar (Enlund and colleagues, Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica). The 2026 WSAVA dental guidelines call anesthesia-free dentistry "ineffective at best and damaging at worst".
Where seaweed fits
Seaweed belongs with the methods that slow new plaque, not the ones that strip off what's there. In a 2018 placebo-controlled trial, 60 small dogs had their teeth cleaned under anesthesia and then got seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) dental bites daily for 90 days. At the end they had about 38% less plaque and 20% less tartar than the placebo group (Gawor and colleagues, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2018). The maker of the bites paid for the trial, and one examiner scored every dog. A 2023 review by two of the same researchers describes the effect as preventive and suggests starting seaweed after a professional cleaning. We know of no trial of seaweed on teeth that weren't cleaned first.
Caniclean is our seaweed powder. You sprinkle it on your dog's food, and it helps reduce plaque and new tartar. Use it alongside brushing or a chew rather than instead of them. It won't lift tartar that has already hardened, and it isn't VOHC-accepted. Seaweed contains iodine, so ask your vet first if your dog has a thyroid condition or takes thyroid medication.
Judge it over months. The seaweed trial above ran for 90 days, and one customer wrote in a verified review on July 29, 2024, "I've been using it for 4 months now and their teeth are looking much better."
When it's tartar, it's a vet job
Book a vet check if you see any of these.
- Yellow or brown crust that doesn't come off on gauze
- Red, swollen or bleeding gums
- A loose, broken or discolored tooth
- Bad breath that stays after a few weeks of daily brushing
- Chewing on one side, dropping food or pawing at the mouth
- Swelling on the face or under an eye
Tartar runs under the gumline, where you can't see it. The American Veterinary Dental College's position is that this part can't be cleaned properly on an awake dog, so the cleaning is done under anesthesia, with a full check of every tooth. Redness along the tooth edge is gingivitis, and at that early stage a cleaning followed by daily home care can still turn it around. Our guide to gingivitis and periodontitis in dogs explains the stages.
After the cleaning, the teeth start from zero again. That's the best moment to begin daily brushing, a chew or seaweed, because the 2 to 12 day clock has only just restarted.
Questions owners ask
Is it okay to scrape plaque off my dog's teeth?
No. Soft plaque doesn't need scraping, since a brush or gauze takes it off. Hard tartar shouldn't be scraped at home, because a scraper can cut the gums and can't reach the tartar under the gumline.
What causes plaque on dogs' teeth?
Bacteria in the mouth form plaque on the teeth each day, on any diet. Without brushing or chewing, nothing removes it, and within days it starts to harden.
How long does it take to get rid of plaque on a dog's teeth?
A single brushing removes the soft plaque you can reach. Keeping it off means brushing at least every other day for as long as you want the result, since the gains fade within two weeks of stopping. In the 2025 trial on uncleaned teeth, 8 weeks of regular brushing or chews reduced the coating but didn't clear it.
Can a dog's plaque be removed without a vet?
Soft plaque, yes, with a brush and dog toothpaste or a chew your dog really chews. Plaque that has hardened into tartar needs a vet cleaning.
References
- American Veterinary Dental College. Position statement on companion animal dental scaling without anesthesia. avdc.org.
- Enlund KB, Rahunen N, Thelander S, Olsén L. Evaluation of a thiol-detection test to assess tooth brushing efficacy in dogs. J Vet Dent. 2024;41(3), 183-191.
- Enlund KB, Andersson G, Dolfei L, Lavesson M, Palm J, Olsén L. A pilot study on the novel use of an ultrasonic toothbrush in dogs. Acta Vet Scand. 2026;68, 15.
- Gawor J, Jank M, Harvey CE, Nicolas CS. Effectiveness of dental homecare protocols in unscaled dogs. J Vet Dent. 2025;42(3), 176-181.
- Gawor J, Jank M, Jodkowska K, Klim E, Svensson UK. Effects of edible treats containing Ascophyllum nodosum on the oral health of dogs. Front Vet Sci. 2018;5, 168.
- Gawor J, Jank M. Ascophyllum nodosum as a nutrient supporting oral health in dogs and cats, a review. Pol J Vet Sci. 2023;26(3), 511-520.
- Harvey C, Serfilippi L, Barnvos D. Effect of frequency of brushing teeth on plaque and calculus accumulation, and gingivitis in dogs. J Vet Dent. 2015;32(1), 16-21.
- Lowe C, Anthony J. Pilot study of the effectiveness of a xylitol-based drinking water additive to reduce plaque and calculus accumulation in dogs. Can Vet J. 2020;61(1), 63-68.
- Marx FR, Machado GS, Pezzali JG, et al. Raw beef bones as chewing items to reduce dental calculus in Beagle dogs. Aust Vet J. 2016;94(1-2), 18-23.
- Merck Veterinary Manual. Xylitol toxicosis in dogs. Updated June 2025. merckvetmanual.com.
- Niemiec B, Gawor J, Nemec A, et al. World Small Animal Veterinary Association global dental guidelines. J Small Anim Pract. 2026. doi:10.1111/jsap.70057.
- Pinto CFD, Lehr W, Pignone VN, Chain CP, Trevizan L. Evaluation of teeth injuries in Beagle dogs caused by autoclaved beef bones used as a chewing item to remove dental calculus. PLoS One. 2020;15(2), e0228146.