Plaqueff Bones Bacon

Every dental product in a pet shop asks you to trust something you cannot watch happening. Plaque does not soften visibly, teeth look much the same on day one as on day ten, and the animal is no help at all — so the only honest way to judge one is against the timescale its own maker puts on it, and then to check whether the box you are holding covers that timescale.

ProDen's approach with PlaqueOff is that it works from the inside rather than the surface. Their claim for A.N ProDen, the seaweed ingredient they build everything around, is that it is absorbed and carried in the bloodstream until it turns up in the saliva, coating teeth from that side and loosening deposits that have already hardened on. The shape of the bone is then the abrasive half of the arrangement, taking off whatever has been softened. These are the bacon-flavoured ones, 13 large bones to a box, and they carry omega 3 and 6 as well. ProDen put results at 3 to 8 weeks of giving one every day, and state that PlaqueOff is accepted by the Veterinary Oral Health Council.

• 13 large bones per box
• Bacon flavour
• Contains A.N ProDen, from 100% natural seaweed
• Contains omega 3 and 6
• Hypoallergenic and grain free
• ProDen state results are seen in 3 to 8 weeks of daily use

The box runs out before the manufacturer's own timescale does. ProDen ask for daily use and put results at 3 to 8 weeks; the box holds 13 bones. Given every day, you will be reordering well before the earlier of those two figures, so buy it as the start of something ongoing rather than as a trial. Beyond that, very little has been published: there is no weight, no size for the bones, no analytical constituents and no ingredient list past the seaweed, which is thin for something a dog is meant to eat every day. And a dog with a sore mouth, a cracked tooth or breath that has changed suddenly needs a vet to look in there, not a chew.

Who it's for: anyone who has made peace with never brushing their dog's teeth and wants the next best routine instead, and dogs who will take a bacon-flavoured chew without any persuading.