As a kid, we all remember that mundane unavoidable task we had to do twice a day, Brushing your teeth. And to get your children to develop healthy dental habits has always been a tug of war between you and them. The real problem here is that like most other good-for-health things, brushing your teeth is boring and time-consuming.
Enter Grush. A San Francisco-based start-up, Grush, saves both sides from all that trouble by coupling video games with your child’s everyday brushing experience. You probably would have seen other Wi-Fi-enabled sensor-equipped toothbrushes, but what makes this one different is the purpose behind it. It brushing fun, by turning it into a game. The Grush system consists of a Wi-Fi-enabled toothbrush full of motion sensors and accelerometers, a wide range of companion iOS and Android games, cloud-based data storage and also a parental control console and monitoring dashboard.
With a large variety of choices to select from, all your child needs to do before brushing his teeth is mount his smartphone to the bathroom mirror using the custom-made holder provided, choose the Grush game he wants to play and the game will do the rest by guiding him through the rest of the routine. Young brushers can now choose whether they want to conduct an orchestra, chase monsters or groom animals while fighting off plaque. The built in motion sensors transmit the brush track movements including the intensity, stroke and rotation. The data is sent to the device to guide him through the game acting as the game controls.
The company told the press that the video games in the toothbrush have been specifically designed to navigate the child through the process and make recommendations regarding brushing technique suggested by the American Dental Association. For instance, the child gets to brush away monsters in “Monster Chase”, brush to groom a pet in “Brush-a-pet”, or even act as the bandmaster in “Tooth Orchestra”. After the game is over, the user gets score or a “Grush Factor,” according to the quality of his brushing.
The toothbrush also has replaceable heads, so that you do not have to change the entire toothbrush once one gets old or over used. In addition, Grush also keeps track of the brushing data on child’s brushing. Parents can then use this information via the parental dashboard app to show family dentist the child’s brushing habits and in turn, get an expert opinion.
Although Grush is the first company to design oral hygiene gadgets aimed at children by coupling the devices with gaming, there are more smart toothbrush making companies now like Kolibree and Beam, which inspire healthier oral hygiene in people through connected devices. These are designed in the same way and they track strokes, movement and brushing techniques.
Grush is wireless, waterproof and is powered by the AAA batteries. The team is currently working on further developing the games and the cloud infrastructure and for this purpose has joined hands with Indiegogo in order to raise funds. A pledge of $45(US) will get you a Grush Brush, with shipping calculated for November 2014, if everything goes according to plan.
So maybe this is what the future looks like. Gaming tooth brushes are definitely the new thing!
