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Gamification of teeth brushing

playbrush.io

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Re: Gamification of teeth brushing

#2

Post by huskyr »

I've got an electric toothbrush that already has a really simple form of 'gamification'. You're supposed to brush each of the four 'quadrants' of your teeth for 30 seconds, after 30 seconds the brush starts to buzz a little bit, reminding you to switch quadrants.

It sounds pretty stupid, but i was surprised how well it actually works. When i'm brushing my teeth with an 'ordinary' brush i tend to miss the automatic buzzing :)

Re: Gamification of teeth brushing

#3

Post by userbinator »

Appropriately enough, it uses Bluetooth...

The idea isn't new though, this just seems to be aimed at a younger demographic.

http://www.oralb.co.uk/en-GB/electric-toothbrush-with-blueto...

However, there's something about holding a toothbrush in one hand and a smartphone in the other that... just doesn't feel right to me.

Edit: gamification of toothbrushes for the young ones has been done before too:

http://www.usvigilant.com/rainbow/

Re: Gamification of teeth brushing

#8

Post by Intermernet »

huskyr wrote: post #2

I've got an electric toothbrush that already has a really simple form of 'gamification'. You're supposed to brush each of the four 'quadrants' of your teeth for 30 seconds, after 30 seconds the brush starts to buzz a little bit, reminding you to switch quadrants. It sounds pretty stupid, but i was surprised how well it actually works. When i'm brushing my teeth with an 'ordinary' brush i tend to miss the automatic bu…

You can get those toothbrushes for kids that play songs through the bristles. I've heard of parents teaching their kids that certain verses and phrases mean to switch to a certain brushing style and position, and they have to keep brushing until the song ends.

Another invention I originally scoffed at, but now just wish I'd come up with...

Re: Gamification of teeth brushing

#9

Post by FroshKiller »

huskyr wrote: post #2

I've got an electric toothbrush that already has a really simple form of 'gamification'. You're supposed to brush each of the four 'quadrants' of your teeth for 30 seconds, after 30 seconds the brush starts to buzz a little bit, reminding you to switch quadrants. It sounds pretty stupid, but i was surprised how well it actually works. When i'm brushing my teeth with an 'ordinary' brush i tend to miss the automatic bu…

I have that same toothbrush. When I have to use a regular toothbrush, I feel very self-conscious that I'm probably not brushing as long as I would be if I were using the electric one.

I like to make a game of seeing whether I can do other tasks in the time it takes me to brush my teeth. Can I make cinnamon toast while brushing my teeth in under two minutes?

Re: Gamification of teeth brushing

#10

Post by thejrk »

Getting kids to brush better can be fun and this product seems to hit that point very well. However, from my experience as a parent of an 8yo, phones and tablets around a basin of water for too long spells disaster. I don't want a product that would require me to hover over my kid while he's brushing his teeth.
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