One thing I struggle with getting my kids to do is brush their teeth. Even when they do it’s a battle of getting them to keep brushing for two minutes and move the brush to every side of their mouth. So when I heard about Playbrush I was keen to try it out and see if it improved my children’s daily teeth brushing routine.
Playbrush is basically a small device that attaches to the bottom of a standard size toothbrush and via bluetooth connects to a phone or tablet allowing children to play a game alongside brushing their teeth. It is rechargeable and can easily be charged via a usb cable as and when required. When ready it simply pushes onto the bottom of the childs toothbrush.
To use the Playbrush you need to link to an app, which when open the device automatically connects to via bluetooth which makes it really simple for children to do themselves. My two can just take the phone and get going themselves. The game is easy to set up with multiple profiles so once done, the child can just touch their name to continue on with building up their score.
There are four different games available and we’ve tried them all, although my children tend to stick to their favourites but change sometimes for something different. Utoothia Sky is a regular game they play although my little boy loves Utoothia Paint where the more your brush, the more of your picture is coloured in. The catch is that each colour represents a different angle of brushing so to complete the picture you need to brush each side and both upper and lower teeth to fully colour the image.
Each game lasts for two minutes to allow for optimum brushing time. The game also requires you to move the brush in different directions in order to succeed which has definitely opened my children eyes to the lack of movement they usually brush with. In particular my little boy tended to keep his brush facing one way so never really got to the back teeth on the other side. The game has really encouraged him to turn his hand and give the teeth on the other side a really good scrub!
You can also purchase a smartphone holder which has suction pads to stick to tiles or a mirror. This is really useful to protect the smartphone and also to save anyone holding on to it. We found our mirror a little high for the children and they preferred sticking it onto the side of the bath if one of us wasn’t holding it, but it worked for them.
So what do we think about Playbrush?
The children love it and haven’t got bored of it. After several weeks of trying it out they still ask to borrow a phone daily to use with the Playbrush to brush their teeth. From my point of view, I can definitely see an improvement in my children’s brushing both in terms of length of time and technique. They definitely move the brush around their mouths more and it’s lovely to see a rich lather of toothpaste from them rather than a quick brush and spit it out. For our family the Playbrush has been a success and we are seeing a much better teeth cleaning routine. I’m hoping that they will form habits from using the games, so that when they don’t have the Playbrush attached they will automatically clean every angle and keep going for two minutes. Why not try one out with your kids today, it could be just that little bit of encouragement they need and make the whole process a lot less stressful for all of you!
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.
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The kit contains 7 liquid filled peroxide free swabs, contained in a plastic case. To use them you simply remove a swab and push the stick together to release the liquid into the top half which then oozes out of the swab. Then rub gently across the teeth that you wish to whiten for between 10-20 seconds per tooth. This is really easy to do and there is no bitter taste or any unpleasantness.
So what did I think?
The strips are very simple to apply and you literally just lightly dry your teeth, then press the strip onto the front of them and then fold the rest around the edge and down the back of the teeth. They need to stay on for 30 minutes so it’s best to find a quiet time to do this as although you can talk, it’s not overly easy.
5 yr old Mister B is always motivated with a little encouragement and I have to say with his new bathroom accessories he can’t wait to clean his teeth and has done it everyday without fail on his own without us asking him too! He just loves the elephant animal spout for our bathroom tap and he now says before going up to brush “If I brush my teeth can I have a sticker?”. As you can imagine his pyjamas are covered in them but if that keeps his teeth brushed and healthy then great!
