Dachshund Sports cars and dachshunds have more in common than you’d guess. Both are low to the ground, both are built long and sleek, and both need way more maintenance than their owners expect when they first sign the paperwork.
That maintenance part is where things get interesting.
Because tucked inside that adorable little snout is a mouth crammed with 42 teeth, all fighting for space in a jaw that was never designed to hold them comfortably. Dachshunds have the same number of teeth as a Great Dane. The real estate situation is, to put it kindly, tight.
Crowded teeth trap food. Trapped food becomes plaque. Plaque hardens into tartar, and tartar invites gum disease that can eventually cost your hound the teeth themselves.
Studies suggest that a majority of dogs show signs of periodontal disease by age three, and small breeds with crowded mouths sit at the front of that unhappy line.
Good news: the fix is not complicated. It just needs to be consistent.
1. Start With a Mouth Inspection Before You Start Anything Else
Before you buy a single product, look inside your dog’s mouth. Really look.
Lift the lip on both sides and check the back molars, since that’s where trouble hides first. You’re looking for yellow or brown buildup along the gum line, red or puffy gums, and any tooth that looks loose or discolored.
Give the breath a sniff too. Doggy breath is normal. Breath that makes you recoil is a symptom, not a personality trait.
What You Find Changes the Plan
A clean mouth means you’re in prevention mode, which is the easy version of this job.
Heavy tartar or bleeding gums means you’re already past prevention and into treatment, and that requires a vet before it requires a toothbrush. Brushing over inflamed, infected gums hurts, and a dog who learns that toothbrushes cause pain will fight you forever.
A dachshund who trusts your hands will let you do almost anything. A dachshund who doesn’t will remember exactly why, and for exactly how long.
2. Introduce the Toothbrush Before You Introduce Toothpaste
Most people fail at dog dental care in the first week because they try to do the whole thing on day one.
Skip that. For the first few days, just touch your dachshund’s muzzle while you scratch their ears. Then lift the lip for one second and let go, followed by a treat.
Slow is fast here.
Once your dog stays relaxed through the lip lifting, introduce the brush dry with nothing on it. Let them lick it, sniff it, and decide it’s boring. Boring is exactly the reaction you want.
Brush Choices for Small Mouths
Finger brushes give you the most control in a narrow jaw, and they’re the easiest starting point for a dog who’s suspicious of the whole operation.
Small-headed dog toothbrushes with angled handles work better once your hound accepts the routine, because they reach the back molars without you having to jam your whole hand in there.
A child’s soft toothbrush works in a pinch. Just make sure the bristles are genuinely soft, not "soft" in the marketing sense.
3. Use Toothpaste Made for Dogs, and Only for Dogs
Human toothpaste is not an option, ever.
Fluoride upsets canine stomachs, and xylitol, a sweetener found in plenty of human brands, is genuinely toxic to dogs even in small amounts. Your dachshund swallows everything you put in their mouth, which means this isn’t a minor detail.
Dog toothpaste comes in flavors like poultry, beef, peanut butter, and vanilla mint. Buy the one your dog actually likes, because enthusiasm does half the work for you.
Let them lick a pea-sized amount off your finger a few times before it ever touches a brush. The goal is for the tube to become a treat that happens to clean teeth.
4. Master the Angle, Not the Pressure
Here’s where technique matters more than effort.
Hold the brush at roughly a 45 degree angle to the gum line and use small circles. The plaque you’re trying to remove sits right where tooth meets gum, not in the middle of the tooth surface.
Focus almost entirely on the outer surfaces. Your dog’s tongue does a surprisingly decent job on the inner surfaces, and fighting to reach them costs you goodwill you’d rather spend elsewhere.
Light pressure. Always light pressure.
Dachshund gums are delicate, and scrubbing hard doesn’t clean better; it just makes the whole experience something your dog dreads.
Thirty seconds per side is plenty. If you get a full minute total, you’re doing better than most owners will ever manage.
Two minutes of daily brushing beats a heroic ten minute session once a month. Consistency is the entire game.
5. Build a Schedule You’ll Actually Keep
Daily is the gold standard.
Realistically, three to four times a week prevents most tartar buildup and keeps gums healthy, so aim for daily and forgive yourself for landing at four.
Anchor it to something you already do. Right after dinner, right before the evening walk, right when you settle onto the couch: pick a moment that already exists in your routine and staple the brushing to it.
Make It a Ritual, Not a Wrestling Match
End every session with the same reward. A specific treat, a specific toy, a specific game.
Dachshunds are pattern animals with excellent memories and strong opinions, and once they connect brushing with the good thing that follows, they’ll start showing up for it. Some of them will start nagging you about it, which is a delightful problem to have.
6. Choose Chews That Actually Do Something
The dental chew aisle is mostly marketing, so shop carefully.
Look for the VOHC seal, awarded by the Veterinary Oral Health Council to products that have proven they reduce plaque or tartar. No seal means no evidence, just packaging with a picture of a sparkling tooth on it.
Avoid anything genuinely hard. Antlers, hooves, real bones, and ice cubes crack teeth, and a fractured tooth costs far more than a bag of chews ever will.
The thumbnail test: press your thumbnail into the chew. If it doesn’t leave a slight dent, it’s too hard for your dachshund’s mouth.
Size matters too. A chew sized for a Labrador is a choking hazard for a dog with a jaw the width of two fingers.
7. Watch the Waistline While You Watch the Teeth
Dental chews carry calories, and a lot of them.
Dachshunds are already prone to weight gain, and extra pounds on that long spine raise the risk of intervertebral disc disease, which is the last thing you want to trade a clean smile for.
Count chews as part of the daily food budget, not as extras.
Water additives and dental wipes offer a zero calorie alternative on days when your dog has already had their allotment. They work less well than brushing, but they work better than nothing, and "better than nothing" adds up over years.
Crunchy kibble helps a little. Not as much as the bag claims, but a little.
8. Book the Professional Cleaning Before You Think You Need It
Home care slows tartar. It doesn’t remove what’s already hardened onto the tooth or hiding below the gum line.
Only a veterinary cleaning under anesthesia can do that, because it involves scaling beneath the gums and taking dental X rays that reveal root problems invisible from the outside.
Most dachshunds need this every one to two years, though some genetically unlucky ones need it annually no matter how diligent you are.
About the Anesthesia Question
Plenty of owners hesitate here, and that’s fair. Anesthesia carries real risk.
Modern veterinary protocols with pre-anesthetic bloodwork and monitoring have made that risk very small for healthy dogs, while untreated periodontal disease carries risks of its own: bacteria from infected gums travel through the bloodstream and have been linked to heart, kidney, and liver problems.
Anesthesia-free cleanings scrape the visible surface and leave the disease underneath entirely untouched. They make the teeth look better while the actual problem keeps growing.
Ask your vet what they’d do with their own dog. You’ll usually get a straight answer.