Ok first off I work at a dental office......and I am very very anal about Bailey, Sydney and Chances teeth.  I have always cleaned Baileys just with the tooth brush and I am now starting to brush the pups teeth.  Well my vet recommends that you have your dogs teeth cleaned at the age 2.  Well Bailey is 2 1/2.  The vet says that his teeth are okay....well last night I was brushing his teeth and he has calculus on his back molars.  I have brought the dental scalers home that I need to use but as soon as he hears the scrap noise he FLIPS out.  Okay here is the possible inhumane issue.  I was telling the doctor that I work for about it and she suggested that I give him a small dose of benedryl to just clam him and then it would be easier for me to clean.  What do you guys think??  I am very capable of doing the cleaning myself I just do not want to cut his gums.  So this would be a way to do so and make is safer for him.  Any thoughts would be great thanks

It would be a whole lot better than having the vet sedate.  Go for it!!!

Do what you can for your pups!  If Benydryl helps, great! I brush Savaanna's teeth occasionally, she doesn't mind it, but I still gett them done at the vets. It's in her health plan. They reccomend it once a year. I don't have it done that often tho. Just every other year or so. I know they need their teeth done, just can't see doing the anesthesia thing so often.

Gee, I don't know.  There's got to be a good reason vets completely knock dogs out and don't just use mild sedatives to do this job in the office.  I suspect that even benadryl won't sedate the dog enough for you to be able to scrape without bringing the dog conscious once again and then the head jerk might cause injury.  I'm not sure I'd try to do it at home. 

mine neither, doesn't even slow them down. Does help with sneezing during allergy season though.  The only thing that knocks them out is tranquilizers from the vet. We use christmas eve when the house is totally full so they stay in the bedroom and sleep and right now for Fred becuase with all the fireworks around he is going to have a heart attack.

My friend who has been a vet tec for 25 years does it with out anything.  She can only do so much but it is a heck of alot better after she does it.  She can chip some off with just her thumb nail but also has a scaler and other tools.  The dogs we see feel so much better after getting that stuff off their teeth!!!!!My thumb nail is not strong enough!!!!!