Playbrush Smart Sonic – Cleaning Your Teeth Can Be So Much Fun by Dr Kathleen Thompson

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My son and daughter-in-law made a game of cleaning my grandson’s teeth since he was a small baby and he’d open his mouth wide whilst they brushed away. All was well until … his third birthday, when somebody whisked away my compliant young grandson and left a replacement child who must have had different parents, because he clearly regarded teeth cleaning as something for other kids.

What had been a pleasant part of the going to bed process, together with reading a story and kissing goodnight, had become ten minutes of torment, dreaded by both parents and child. What could they do?

Well there must be a God, because around this time I was asked to review the Playbrush Smart Sonic –which indeed seemed a godsend.

This clever electric toothbrush is suitable for kids from three years old. A free app for smartphone, Kindle or tablet links to it by bluetooth, and transforms the brush into a fun game controller – one which only works when one cleans one’s teeth properly.

There are a choice of games on the associated Playbrush and Utoothia Sky apps, some for 3+ and others for 6+ year olds – some are free and some have a small charge. I particularly like the one where the child must keep brushing to keep a helicopter flying. They can score points with some games and join a league table with other kids. The games encourage longer brushing and encourage all over cleaning.

The app collects statistics, useful for parents – such as number of times teeth brushed (with green smiley faces – or red sad ones). The stats also record pressure and duration of brushing – and the app will alert the child if they are brushing too hard. There’s even a coaching option, teaching the child how to brush all parts of their mouth.

Nowadays, many children are familiar with ipad and smartphone games from a very young age. My grandson regularly has to show grandma how to use them – which to his credit he does with tact and patience. So I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised how quickly he got the hang of this special toothbrush. Suddenly teeth brushing became fun again and calm has been restored to night times and mornings. Well done, Playbrush Smart Sonic – what a clever idea.

And if you’re tearing your hair out trying to get your kids to brush their teeth, well it is currently on offer from Playbrush at £34.99 – grab one, you won’t regret it – there’s also a manual toothbrush option available if you prefer.