What does a Pekingese owner need to know about dental care? In short: this is a brachycephalic toy breed, which means a dramatically shortened upper jaw must hold the same 42 teeth as any other dog, producing crowded, rotated, and misaligned teeth alongside the breed's characteristic undershot bite — a combination that ranks the Pekingese among the highest-need dental breeds of all. Daily plaque control and regular veterinary oversight aren't upgrades for a Peke; they're the baseline.
At Ark Naturals, 25-plus years of making dental chews in the USA has taught us that flat-faced toys need the most thoughtful plans we can offer. Consider this guide the lion dog's personal playbook.
How does the flat face change everything?
The Pekingese skull is the product of centuries of selection in the Chinese imperial court for a broad, short, lion-like face. The result is beautiful and utterly impractical dentally. The upper jaw is compressed front-to-back, yet tooth count and individual tooth size barely shrink to match. Something has to give, and what gives is alignment: premolars rotate sideways, teeth overlap like shingles, and gaps that should exist between teeth vanish.
The breed standard also calls for an undershot bite — the lower jaw protruding beyond the upper — so upper and lower teeth rarely meet in the scissors alignment that gives most dogs a degree of natural self-cleaning through chewing contact. Add the facial fold over the nose and slightly protruding lips, and you have a mouth where saliva, hair, and food debris linger. Veterinary dental references, including the American Veterinary Dental College's periodontal disease resources, identify exactly these conditions — crowding, rotation, malocclusion — as accelerants of periodontal disease, because every crooked contact point is a plaque sanctuary.
At 6 to 9 inches tall and up to 14 pounds, the Pekingese also inherits every standard toy-breed liability: proportionally shallow jawbone around the tooth roots and a long lifespan (12 to 14 years or more) over which small problems compound.
The Pekingese risk list
- Accelerated periodontal disease. Crowded, rotated teeth accumulate plaque faster than aligned ones and are harder to clean at home or professionally. The AVMA's benchmark — most dogs showing dental disease by age three — arrives early in flat-faced toys.
- Unerupted and impacted teeth. In compressed jaws, some adult teeth never fully erupt. An unerupted tooth left undiscovered can form a destructive dentigerous cyst in the jaw — one of the strongest arguments for veterinary dental X-rays in this breed, since the problem is invisible from the surface.
- Retained baby teeth. A familiar toy-breed theme: deciduous teeth that overstay their welcome worsen crowding that a Peke can't afford. Have your veterinarian check at every visit between four and seven months.
- Hidden pain behind a placid face. The Pekingese is dignified and undemonstrative. A dog bred for imperial composure rarely advertises a toothache, so owners have to go looking.
What does a workable daily routine look like?
Brushing a flat face takes technique, not force. Choose a small soft-bristled or finger brush and an enzymatic dog toothpaste — never a human product. With a Peke, angle matters more than pressure: the crowded upper premolars and the incisors tucked behind the lip fold need deliberate attention, and rotated teeth may need the brush turned to reach their exposed faces. Keep sessions short; brachycephalic dogs can get breathless when stressed, so aim for calm 30-to-60-second circuits rather than marathons. Most Pekes accept the ritual once it's predictably rewarded.
Choose chews for a mouth that grips differently. An undershot bite changes how a dog picks up and works a chew. Softer textures generally suit the breed — easier to engage with misaligned teeth and gentler on crowded roots. Our Soft Shield Protection+ soft chew was designed for exactly this kind of mouth: advanced protection on our DENTA-METER scale, with the Asta-Shield astaxanthin coating — an antioxidant carotenoid whose capacity for neutralizing free radicals has been characterized in published research (PubMed). For Pekes at or under 8 pounds, our Protection+ Brushless mini fits the weight class; heavier Pekes should size up within the line. Like all our chews — USA-made, no artificial flavors or colors, suitable from 12 weeks — they're meant as the daily companion to brushing, not a replacement for veterinary care. The rest of the family, Soft Brushless included, is in our shop-all-dogs collection.
Round it out with:
- A fixed daily chew time, ideally in a cool, calm part of the day — Pekes overheat easily, and relaxed chewing is more thorough chewing.
- A weekly lip-lift, including behind the upper lip fold where debris hides.
- Calorie accounting with your veterinarian's input; this low-slung breed carries extra weight badly.
- Supervision during chewing, since an undershot bite occasionally fumbles a chew into gulping position.
When to involve your veterinarian
Book an exam promptly for any of the following:
- Foul breath that outlasts fresh water and a chew
- Red, swollen, or receding gums, or blood on toys and bedding
- Visible tartar — brown deposits along the gumline, especially on crowded premolars
- Chewing on one side, dropped food, or a shift toward soft-food preference
- Swelling anywhere along the jaw or under the eye
- A count that looks wrong: an apparently "missing" adult tooth in a young Peke deserves an X-ray to rule out impaction
Given the breed's anatomy, veterinary dentists often recommend earlier and more frequent professional cleanings for brachycephalic toys, with full-mouth dental X-rays to see what compressed jaws conceal. Anesthesia in flat-faced breeds calls for extra airway precautions, which modern protocols handle well — raise the topic openly with your veterinarian so you understand the plan before the first cleaning.
Pekingese dental FAQ
Is an underbite bad for my Pekingese's teeth?
The undershot jaw is correct for the breed, so it isn't a defect — but it does carry dental consequences. Teeth that don't interdigitate normally lose chewing self-cleaning, and abnormal tooth-on-tooth or tooth-on-soft-tissue contact can occur. Your veterinarian can assess whether your Peke's individual bite is merely characterful or causing wear and trauma that needs attention.
Why do flat-faced dogs get more dental disease than other dogs?
Compression. A brachycephalic skull shortens the jaw without proportionally shrinking teeth, forcing crowding and rotation. Crowded teeth trap plaque in places tongues, chews, and toothbrushes struggle to reach, and plaque left in place becomes tartar and then gum disease. The mechanism is architectural, which is why daily mechanical cleaning matters so much in these breeds.
What kind of chew is safest for a Pekingese?
Soft-to-moderate textures sized for your dog's weight. Hard items — antlers, bones, hooves — risk fracturing teeth whose roots already sit in crowded, shallow bone. A soft dental chew lets a Peke's unconventional bite do productive scrubbing work without that gamble. If a particular product leaves you unsure, your veterinarian's opinion beats the marketing copy every time.
My senior Peke already has missing teeth. Is a routine still worth it?
Absolutely — arguably more than ever. Every remaining tooth is now doing extra work, and gum health still protects the jawbone and overall comfort. Keep brushing what remains, offer a soft chew appropriate to the mouth your dog has today, and let your veterinarian tailor the plan; seniors with partial dentition often do beautifully with the right adjustments.
Parting words
The Pekingese carries a mouth engineered for majesty rather than maintenance, and that trade sits with us, the owners, to manage. Brush with patience, pick soft, well-sized chews, inspect weekly, and make your veterinarian a standing partner in the project. Do those four things and the lion dog's smile — crooked, crowded, and completely charming — can last the whole reign. We've spent 25 years in the USA making chews to help, and the little emperors remain some of our favorite customers.