chlorhexidine vs Maxi/Guard dental experiment

I recently did a little (n=1 dog) experiment to compare the effectiveness of chlorhexidine versus Maxi/Guard Oral Cleansing Gel. This is probably not much better than anecdotal evidence.

I believe my dogs get better than average dental care, specifically:

  1. daily dental wipes, with approximately weekly brushing using a toothpaste approved by the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC)
  2. annual dental cleanings, with dental x-rays
  3. Health Mouth water additive (VOHC-approved)
  4. ProDen Plaque Off Powder with breakfast (VOHC-approved)
  5. daily rotating VOHC-approved dental treats:
  6. Maybe twice a month, I give my dogs bully sticks to chew (held with Bow Wow Buddy bully stick holders).

I was interested in comparing using chlorhexidine versus Maxi/Guard as additives to gauze pads (homemade dental wipes) with which I daily clean my dogs' teeth. To measure the effectiveness, I used the Embark (embarkvet.com) Oral Health Test kit. Embark uses DNA to identify bacteria in the oral micro-biome, giving a breakdown of found bacteria, looking for diversity in the micro-biome plus bacteria known to be associated with periodontal disease.

(I know that tooth brushing is the gold standard for dental care. But the reality is that most owners will not brush their dog's teeth; dental wipes have a much higher usage rate.)

For several months after a dental cleaning, I soaked 0.12% chlorhexidine (Vetoquinol Dentahex) on gauze pads and used the pads daily to clean my dogs' mouths. I then tested the mouth of my dog with an Embark kit. The test results said that my dog had a "Balanced" oral biome, with few bacteria associated with periodontal disease.

I then switched to using Maxi/Guard on the daily dental wipes for my dogs. After several months of using the Maxi/Guard, I tested the same dog with the Embark Oral Health kit. This time the results were "Moderate to Severe" imbalance in the microbiome, with multiple bacteria associated with periodontal disease found.

My subjective impressions were that I thought the Maxi/Guard did a better job of visually cleaning the teeth, but I noticed that my dogs breath smelled worse than when using the chlorhexidine.

One hypothesis why the Maxi/Guard is less effective is that my dogs get Healthy Mouth which includes zinc gluconate. Consequently the zinc gluconate in Maxi/Guard is not adding much to the oral care of my dogs.

6 Feb 2025