Last verified: September 17, 2026. Source: the Veterinary Oral Health Council's published Accepted Products list.
Walk down the pet aisle and you will find dozens of dog toothpastes, most of them promising to fight plaque, tartar, and bad breath. Now look at the only independent list that checks those claims against actual trial data — the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC) Accepted Products list — and the number collapses.
Of the 94 dog and cat products VOHC currently lists as accepted, four are toothpaste products for dogs.
That is the entire list.
The four
| Product | Company | VOHC claim | Availability | Seal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petsmile Professional Pet Toothpaste | Supersmile (Robell Res) | Helps control plaque | Consumer | 2011 |
| HealthyMouth® Toothpaste/Brush Kit Combination for Dogs (Medium/Large Breed) | HealthyMouth, LLC | Helps control plaque | Consumer | 2015 |
| Tartar Shield® PRO CARE Natural Pet Toothpaste | Tartar Shield Pet Products | Helps control tartar | Veterinary and consumer | 2025 |
| Dentalis Canine Toothpaste | Dentalis Animal Health | Helps control plaque | Consumer | 2026 |
Two things stand out immediately.
First, the claims are not interchangeable. Three of the four are accepted for plaque; one is accepted for tartar. No dog toothpaste currently on the list holds both claims. That matters, and the next section explains why.
Second, the list is recent. Two of the four were added in the last two years. Before 2025 there were only two. If you read an article about dog toothpaste written in 2023, it was working from half of this table.
What "VOHC accepted" actually means
VOHC is not a regulator and it does not run the trials itself. It reviews trial data submitted by the company that makes the product, against a published protocol. Here is what that protocol requires, in VOHC's own terms:
- Two separate trials, not one — specifically to test whether the result repeats. The dogs used in the first trial cannot be used in the second.
- Two claim categories, reviewed separately: "Helps Control Plaque" and "Helps Control Tartar." If a company wants both, it has to submit a separate data set and analysis for each, though both can be collected during the same trial.
- A control group. Trials may be parallel-group or cross-over. Cross-over trials run a minimum of 28 days per leg, with at least a 7-day rest period between legs for chemically active products.
- Safety scoring built into the trial: gingivitis scores plus observation for non-gingival inflammation, oral ulceration, or laceration, taken at the start and end.
- A signed affidavit from the company that it has met safety and regulatory requirements everywhere the product is sold, that it knows of nothing indicating the product is unsafe, and that it will report any later safety complaints or regulatory actions to VOHC.
For products containing an active anti-plaque or anti-calculus chemical, VOHC applies an additional standard: the agent must not increase gingivitis compared with a control, and must reduce plaque or calculus accumulation at or above VOHC's minimum threshold compared with a control.
What it does not mean
VOHC acceptance is a claim about plaque or tartar accumulation measured in a trial. It is not a rating of flavor, texture, ingredient quality, value, or how much your dog will tolerate the brushing. It does not rank the accepted products against each other — there is no first place on this list, only a pass.
It is also not a safety certification in the consumer-product sense. The safety component is trial-based observation plus the company's own affidavit.
Plaque or tartar — which claim should you look for?
VOHC defines the two separately, and the difference decides which product is relevant to your dog.
Plaque is the soft, bacteria-rich film that forms on teeth continuously. VOHC describes the bacteria in mature plaque as the cause of the gum inflammation that starts periodontal disease. Plaque is the upstream problem.
Tartar (VOHC uses the everyday word rather than "calculus") is calcium salts from saliva hardening onto the tooth surface. It resists chewing and brushing, and its rough surface makes more plaque stick. Tartar is the downstream consequence.
Read plainly: a plaque claim targets the cause; a tartar claim targets the visible build-up. Three of the four accepted dog toothpastes carry the plaque claim.
Why isn't [famous brand] on the list?
This is the question the list always raises, and the honest answer is unsatisfying but important.
A product's absence from the VOHC list does not mean it was tested and failed. In almost every case it means no data was ever submitted. Submitting requires the company to fund two trials, pay the review fee, and open its data to review. Plenty of products that work perfectly well have simply never gone through that.
So the list is best read as: these are the products whose plaque or tartar claim has been checked against trial data by someone other than the seller. Everything else — good or bad — is untested by this particular standard.
If your dog won't tolerate a toothbrush
Brushing is the reference standard, but a toothpaste your dog fights is a toothpaste that does not get used. The accepted-products list has an answer for that, and it is a much longer one.
Nineteen water additives and powders hold accepted claims for dogs, against four toothpastes, with three topical gels and sprays in between. Nearly five times as many accepted products ask nothing of the dog as ask it to accept a toothbrush — which tells you where the industry has put its trial money.
Two things to know before you switch. The claims are not consistent across that group. Products accepted between 2008 and 2020 are almost entirely plaque claims; the ones accepted in 2022 and 2023 are entirely tartar claims. And only three products in the whole group hold both claims — ProDen PlaqueOff® Powder, its CEVA-branded version, and Virbac® C.E.T® AQUADENT® FR3SH®.
Two more things worth knowing before you buy
"Veterinary Only" is a real column. Some accepted products are sold only through veterinarians and will not appear in a general search. Of the four toothpastes, one (Tartar Shield PRO CARE) is listed as veterinary and consumer; the other three are consumer.
Toothbrushes are handled separately. VOHC lists an "ADA-compliant soft-bristle, flat head toothbrush" generically — no brand — as accepted for both plaque and tartar since 2014. In other words, the brush that matters is defined by its shape and bristle softness, not its label.
The bottom line
If your only filter is "has anyone independently checked this claim," there are four dog toothpastes to choose from, and three of them carry the plaque claim rather than the tartar claim. If your dog will not tolerate brushing, the accepted-products list is roughly five times deeper on water additives and powders than on toothpaste.
Everything above is a description of what an independent list does and does not say. It is not veterinary advice, and it is no substitute for having your dog's mouth looked at. If your dog has visible tartar, red gums, or bad breath that will not go away, that is a conversation with a veterinarian, not a shopping decision.
Sources
- Veterinary Oral Health Council — Accepted Products
- Veterinary Oral Health Council — Protocols and Submissions
- Veterinary Oral Health Council — Earn the VOHC Seal
Product names, companies, claim categories, availability and seal years in the tables above are taken from VOHC's published Accepted Products page as it stood on September 17, 2026. VOHC updates the list as new products are accepted; check the source before relying on it. "VOHC Accepted" is a registered certification mark of the Veterinary Oral Health Council, and this page is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by VOHC.
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