Review - Playbrush

I will be honest and tell you that I am not a great fan of going to the dentist!

I know I am not the only one who doesn’t like it but because I don’t like going I try and make sure that I keep my teeth as clean as possible and so far I have managed to go through life without any problems, not cavities or fillings; as my dentists says “great looking teeth”

That being said I do at times have difficulty getting the boys to clean theirs.

For those who follow the blog you will know that William has a rare mouth and suffers from quite a few problems.

He has quite a few fused teeth which can be quite common, a geographic tongue which is rare and finally a few teeth with no enamel coating.

The poor boy suffering from all three makes it difficult in many ways and because of that he is a very fussy brusher.

Then we have James.

James doesn’t have any problems with his teeth but he is a typical little boy who finds issue in a lot of the aspects of cleaning his teeth. The toothpaste is to minty, there’s too much toothpaste on his brush, and the water used is too hot or not hot enough.

The list can go on and as you can imagine getting the boys to clean their teeth is never an easy thing.

I thought maybe that learning about them in Home Ed would help and whilst we were the boys habits improved but it didn’t take long for the bad habits to come back.

That is until we were contacted by the Play brush team.

Playbrush is a highly interactive game that supports and encourages brushing teeth for all ages.

It cleverly measures speed, duration and position of the brush to the teeth and then applies this so you are able to get good brushing feedback as an adult and yet have all the fun for the person brushing.

Getting Started

You need to purchase the Playbrush attachment which fits onto a conventional manual toothbrush. 

The device, which comes in pink or blue, slips easily onto their toothbrushes and connects up quickly. This simple silicone hardware device attaches to the end of the brush and transforms it into a smart game controller. 

The bottom part of the attachment will need to be taken out and charged but this couldn’t be any easier to do where it connects to a standard micro USB (which is included) and will flash red whilst charging.

You then need to download the FREE apps that are available. There are different games available to play and download so the fun never gets old! Ultimately the app allows little ones, and big ones, to play fun and interactive mobile games while brushing.

You then need to create the accounts and which character (boy or girl) that you want to play with and then you are ready to start. And so the fun and games begin.

Playing

The game itself is fun and something that all children would enjoy playing. The game featured (Utoothia) in the photos below allows the character knight to shoot the Crobies who are the army of the Oger that has captured the teeth that you need to rescue and collect.

The players will have to travel through 12 counties to collect the 12 teeth. Each country of Utoothia represents a new level and you have to achieve various tasks and rewards to win back the teeth.

The algorithm is designed in a way that kids brush all around their mouth using a unique reward scheme (medals). This fact is proven as it has made the boys regularly want to come back and play so they could collect all of the medals and progress onto the next level.

Admittedly it did take both of them (and me, because I couldn’t resist having a go as well) a little while to work out how to move their toothbrush in such a way as to kill the baddies on screen, but we soon got the hang of it and are brushing parts of their mouth that they would never normally reach alone.

Ultimately, I would highly recommend this to any parent. The boys love this due to the clever innovation and engaging features. Yet, they are both brushing properly and have improved the brushing skills and duration since we started using it.

As a parent I am assured by the information that the Playbrush team have worked with dentists all over Europe to design an accompanying gaming app that would foster good oral hygiene, physical movement in controlling the toothbrush whilst ensuring they learn to brush everywhere and for the full required two minutes every time.

I do have one warning though!  

I had the boys happily using the app and my phone but due to over excitement playing the game and a lot of jumping around my phone got knocked into the toilet. This seems to be an obvious thing to say but considering the children are brushing their teeth they are around water, albeit in the toilet or the sink so be careful and not, like me, end up with a broken phone!

Amazingly, Playbrush does have a solution to this with their smartphone holder. (I haven’t reviewed this but it would clearly be better than getting a wet and broken phone!)

If you want more details go check their easy access website!

Or you can follow them on Twitter.


(I was given this product for free to review. My opinions are my own and I am under no obligations to give a positive review! Please see my full disclosure at the bottom of my blog)