Not sure where to put this so i've put it in General. Please move if its not in the right area.

My min. poodle is 4yrs 9months. Hes never had brill teeth but they are gradually getting worse. Just been for the annual booster and vet picked up on it again. If possible i want to avoid the surgery route.
So far i have tried:
Fred is fed on a special diet kibble as he is gluten intolerant which i've always been told is better for teeth than meaty food.
I do brush his teeth although he wont let me get to the very back. I figured it was better to brush the teeth he would let me brush than to force the brush to the back of his mouth (which he hates) and make him fearful of teeth brushing all together.
He will occasionally have a lamb bone from a roast dinner and have a good chomp on it.
Hide toys get played with but rarely eaten. Prime example, i buy him the hide shoes - he removes the laces to eat then ignores the rest!
I did look at the denti stix but was informed they are full of fat and sugar so have avoided them.

My question is...what else can i try???? Thanks in advance.

Aquadent? You add it to the water, and replace the bowl once a day. I felt it did make some difference, but it was too expensive with the number of bowls I have hanging around the house. :-)

Hello Fred's Mum,
You are right to avoid dentastix as they don't in my opinion do anything to help clean a dog's teeth.I have toy breeds and use logic toothgel and plaque off. The plaque off is added to the food and I smear the logic along the gum line and rub in with my finger.

I usually buy from pet drugs online as they are usually a lot cheaper than other suppliers and offer a prompt delivery which is free for orders of £20 or more.

Hope you have some more advice from others and that you find a product that suits Fred.

First thing - cooked bones are NOT safe for dogs, they splinter easily.

Second - have you tried giving him raw bones?  Those are safe and do a fab job of keeping teeth clean IME.  Gluten free too ;-)  Most butchers will give them to you free or cheap (when I got them my butcher did them £1 for a carrier bag full), you could ask for smaller ones such as lamb ribs with him being titchy.  Or chicken wings from the butcher or supermarket (if he'll eat them, some dogs aren't keen on raw chicken and/or chicken wings).

My vote is for raw meaty bones as well. You don't get more natural than that, and the dogs really enjoy it, and it really helps their teeth. And my smallest dogs are much smaller than a Miniature Poodle. :)

yep agreed raw  bones ,chicken wings any of that kind of thing will help and no gluten at all
Please dont give him any bones that are cooked it may have been fine up to now but the risk of splintering is so high. Raw are geat they dont splinter in the way cooked do
My smallest is pomx and loves her raw diet

When we gave Spook a home,he was 11 and had dreadful plaque and awful breath though his teeth looked intact underneath.His elderly owner was feeding him Bakers.Now normally I would slowly wean a dog off kibble and slowly introduce raw over a couple of weeks.However Spook was on a raw diet within 3 days and eating raw meaty bones within 24 hours.His teeth within a short period of time improved,within 3 months he had lovely plaque free teeth and no smelly breath.

Another vote for chicken wings.  If the idea of giving raw chicken bones worries you then pull them as straight as you can before freezing, that way you can hold them whilst he starts chewing.  If you feed them only partially defrosted they'll soothe sore teeth too.

Carrots have plenty of natural sugars so don't feed in large quantities but they're still better for teeth and gums than dentastix.

We've a standard poodle and a toy, both are fed raw meaty bones.  The std is a pup so teeth are gleaming but toy is 13yrs and until pup arrived she was fed dry food, since starting raw her teeth have been amazing, after last dental she has been all raw and delights in crunching and gnawing, very funny watching such a small dog tackle raw meat!

If you cannot bring yourself to give bones have you tried Plaque Off, Logic Gel, Fragaria?

Really pleased to read the responses on this thread.  My little dog (in fact all the toy breed dogs that I´ve owned over the years) has grotty teeth and foul breath no matter what I try.  Now I´m going to try the raw bones, chicken wings etc and see if it helps.  I hope it does because I can´t see him being too keen on me brushing his teeth and all these additive products would probably work out a bit pricey for me.

I have two toy poodles and as I have had poodles in the past or rather my mum has I know that teeth are a weak point in the breed. The two I have got now have had their teeth brushed on a daily basis since they got their adult teeth through. It has definitely made a big difference according to my vet and has been very worthwhile even though my 7 year old dog had to have 3 of his bottom front teeth removed a couple of months ago. They do have a wet food diet namely natures menu in tins not the pouches and a small amount of arden grange kibble. I have tried using plaque off as well but am not convinced it helped as i still brushed their teeth as well.

have never heard of Aquadent or plaque off but will definatly be having a look now. He may just let me put a finger in his mouth to rub quickly along the gum line so thats more 'do' able than brushing! Forgot to mention that i tried Fed with a varity of raw bones which he had absolutely NO interest in so thats not an option unfortunately.
Many thanks for the suggestions.
ETA  I've never had a lamb bone splinter.

I lost my Kizi at 8 weeks short of 14 years old and her grandmother at 13 years 7 months and both had perfect teeth and full dentition until their deaths.  They were fed primarily a dry diet, with occasional periods of raw, but always had some raw when I could obtain.

Never brushed teeth but ensured that several times a month they had bones to chew (preferably ones they could eat), and when i can't get bones they get cow hooves.

I think heredity plays a part as both Kizi and her grandmother Elka had lovely white teeth, where as Kizi's Mum Tula had cream teeth once she reached 3 or three years (but still had them all to her death at 11). 

Kizi's daughter Jozi 12 this month has again the cream teeth, very large and healthy, though she had one front incisor lost due to an epulis.

Her daughter Lexi had an abscess in the large carnasial upper tooth (the huge one), these are the first to loose teeth, but no rotten or smelly teeth ever.

With an 8 month old puppy with Brilliantly white teeth, I too wish they would stay that way.

Don't know how long they will last if she doesn't stop digging up and chewing stones and lumps of concrete.