Why don't animals have to brush their teeth?

Answer 1

The real question is why do we. Granted, humans and animals have had dental problems throughout history. Even in ancient times, humans had rudimentary dental procedures, including drilling cavities and frayed branch toothbrushes.

Animals in the wild eat a lot of natural foods and drink a lot of water. Both of these contribute to healthier teeth. The more we process our food, the more we end up with a paste of food particles in our teeth. When I say processed, I mean even simple things as bread. If we were still eating whole grains off of the wheat sheaf, we wouldn't get the thick bread plaque on our teeth. But even with this, ancient humans didn't have as much of a problem as we do today. The bread was of a higher grain content, and the teeth were not bathed constantly in acids and sugars as our teeth are today.

Fruits, honey, sugar and other foods high in sugars weren't as as much as a staple in our diet as they are today, and the more readily available foods had low sugar content. Sugar feeds bacteria, which etches the teeth.

But with all of this said, eating a natural diet, both humans and animals both suffer problems associated with lack of oral hygiene. Dogs and cats and bears all get cavities. We just have the intelligence to do something about it.