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How to help my old dog's terrible breath and unhealthy gums at home?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | unneutered | 20 lbs

Hello, I have a dog about 13 years old & he has REAAAAALLLLYYYY bad breath.. I can't afford to take him in to a vet at the moment, but I want to see what I can do to help him. He has one front tooth & barely any back teeth.. but his breath smells so bad I can smell it without even having to bend over to pet him.. his gums look disgusting as well.. please help!!

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on December 11th, 2016

Poor Bonbon! It sounds like he has really severe periodontal disease - this is unfortunately quite common in older small-breed dogs. This means that he has severe infection in his gums, often with bone loss around the base of the teeth and a great deal of pain for the pet as well as horrible breath. To treat this problem effectively, I'm afraid that he will definitely need to see a vet for a full dental cleaning under anesthesia to remove any painful, rotten teeth and get rid of the tartar and infection in the mouth. So ideally, this should be a goal as soon as you are able to do this, even if you need to plan ahead for a while to be able to do it. In the meantime, you can try using a daily oral rinse for dogs such as CET oral dental rinse. This will not remove tartar or treat the infection, but may help a bit with the odor and keep things from getting worse in the meantime.

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    Answered By Andrea M. Brodie, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Bonbon apparently has severe dental disease and will need a veterinary exam and likely a tooth cleaning. There is also a possibility of kidney problems which can also cause bad breath (would likely smell like urine). Please take Bonbon to a vet on Monday.

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    Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on January 24th, 2019

    Yes dental disease is absolutely the #1 cause of bad breathe. You should notice a significant improvement after his cleaning, especially if your vet can do dental x-rays to identify problems under the gum and if any diseased teeth are extracted that day. If any diseased teeth remain then the bad breathe will continue. So its best to team up with your vet to come up with a complete game plan for Seymours' upcoming dental cleaning to ensure he is treated fully. I would also then start to brush his teeth at least 3 times a week and also use a water additive (can be purchased through your vet or at a local pet store) to help keep the tartar from forming so quickly after his cleaning is done and also help with his bad breathe in case he does have some halitosis going on as well Best of luck with your pet Seymour and his bad breathe. I hope things improve soon. : ) Take care!

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