Clean your teeth all by yourself!
October 16, 2009 by SmockLady
Filed under Dental, Health & Beauty
954 views
This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sonicare for Kids.
When BlogHer Ads contacted me about doing a paid review for the Philips Sonicare Toothbrush for Kids I jumped at the chance. I admit, I was a bit biased already. I bought myself a Sonicare toothbrush years ago, about 15 years (or so) ago. I love that toothbrush! It still works; the only thing I’ve had to do was buy new heads as necessary.
So this review is not about the toothbrush I bought so long ago (that still works). This review is about the new electric toothbrush they are offering for children (I have high expectations). This review was intended for children ages 4-10. I have three children that fit this age range. I thought at first I would have my almost 10 year old and my 5 year old help me with this review. That would cover both ends of the age range requested.
I thought better of that after I gave it deeper thought. More on this in a minute.
Our eight year old daughter has some neurological complications. I won’t go into all of those special needs in this post, but I will tell you that one of her challenges is that she has Cerebral Palsy. She is left side dominant, but her left side is the most affected side by CP. This means that certain things are extra hard for her to do – things that take fine motor skills are the hardest. She can play, she can pretend, she can walk, run (a bit awkwardly), she can do a lot of “normal” things other 8 year old girls can do. She loves dolls and parties and princesses and princes and faeries. BUT She has trouble dressing her dolls, fastening buttons and snaps, hooking zippers, writing her name, brushing her hair, etc. Do you understand? Things that require holding and manipulating are hard for her.
I unpacked the box and checked that everything was included. It was and I had some fun showing it to one of the children and letting her look at it first.
This toothbrush offers a fun bright color with interchangeable face plates. While the interchangeable panels would neither sell me on an item or turn me from it, the children thought it was cool. The charging unit is also removable from the base for easier traveling/packing to take to grandma’s house or a smaller space.
Now back to which children we wanted to try this toothbrush. While I though it would be great to cover both ends of the age spectrum I thought I’d give a better spin on this brush from a special needs point of view. With instructions like “Do not scrub teeth, but gently glide the brush head slowly across the teeth.” It didn’t take much thought for us to give Miss Princerella a shot at brushing her teeth completely (well almost) by herself.
This children’s toothbrush comes with two brush heads, a smaller one for children 4+ years and a slightly larger one for children 7+ years. Because Princerella is a bit small for her age we opted to let Birdie use the more standard 7+ brush head and let Princerella use the 4+ head.
A non-exhaustive list of pros and cons:
Pros
- the children say the colors are a +
- the light indicators for power/charge and power mode
- the base that holds the brush heads
- and the fact that the travel charger pops out for smaller packing needs (which we hope to use next month)
- the musical tones that indicate when to switch to another area of the mouth
- automatic shut off
- smaller head for the smaller mouths
Cons
- For the smaller hands, I think this brush handle is a bit large. It would be nice if for the smaller/younger crowd it is possible to make this handle a bit shorter. I realize it may be difficult because of the rechargeable battery, but it would be nice to have a slightly shorter handle for younger children.
We’ve been using this brush for a few days now and the children love it! I must say that as a parent I love it, too. Like I said at the beginning of the post I began this review with a bias therefore with some high expectations because of my previous love of another Sonicare toothbrush. This toothbrush passed the test with flying colors and we are thrilled to have it in our home as part of our toothbrushing routine!
SURPRISE!!!
Well, it was a surprise to me. I didn’t realize that there was going to be a contest involved with this review. So I am thrilled to announce that I have the wonderful opportunity to host a drawing for a … are you ready … wait for it …
wait for it … $100 VISA GIFT CARD!! O_o I KNOW! Can you believe it? There are some rules and you MUST follow them carefully. If you do not I will be forced to disqualify you from the drawing. Sorry, but rules are rules.
To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me How do you handle your kids’ dental hygiene? – or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) 10/15/2009 and will end 5:00 p.m. (PST) 11/15/2009. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.
Rules:
- No duplicate comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
- This giveaway is open to US-residents, 18 years of age or older
- Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
- The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
- Please see the official rules here: Sweepstakes Official rules
You have a total of 10 chances to win a $100 Visa gift card from BlogHer Reviewers, plus the chance to win a Sonicare prize pack on the BlogHer.com special offers page! For more information: Official site
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I’d like to thank BlogHer and Philips for the opportunity to do this review. It has been a pleasure reviewing such a great product and my children and I have had fun together with the toothbrushes.
My 13 year old obviously brushes her own teeth NOW, but when she was little I made the mistake of letting her brush her own teeth. Add to that all of her asthma meds, and the poor chld had tons of cavities.
Our 7 year old has been brushing her own teeth for a couple of years now, with only 1 cavity so far. She has learned to brush AND floss and I think this has helped immensely.
Our 13 year old has not had a cavity in her adult teeth yet!
We have a 9 yr old. We let him brush his teeth first and then we brush them as well. He has had a few cavities. I think it is the flossing that we are not doing a good enough job on.
(I didn’t know asthma meds could be hard on teeth, I suppose that is why they say to rinse your mouth after)
I brush my kids’ teeth twice a day and use kid flossers on them nightly.
I blogged about this giveaway:
http://grand-giveaways.blogspot.com/2009/10/visa-100-gift-card-sponsored-by_16.html
My 6-year-old uses a spinbrush and it seems to work well.
My sons are older now and you still have to worry about dental hygiene but now you have the extra added problems associated with braces. I always have encouraged my kids to brush their teeth at least 2 times a day and more often if possible. Flossing is a must and limiting drinks with a lot of sugar.
My children do an okay job of brushing their teeth. I have not been good about making them floss. I have one child who has had NO CAVITIES and the other has had a few. We check their teeth after brushing on a regular basis and we CONSTANTLY remind them to do it. We insist that they brush at least twice a day. After breakfast and before bed.
We have regular dentist checkups twice a year and cleanings at each.
I have a one-step approach: my wife handles it. ;-)
From one mom to the next, you might want to check out Dentist.net They sell Sonicare too- but you can use their coupon for 5% off :D = Make5me
But Id love to know – are there any other discounts floating around?
Twitter: kristenmstewart
says:
I let them do it themselves in the am and M or I help at night
My kids are pretty good about brushing their teeth. I try and make sure they brush every day
I use the sonicare. I think it is great that it is now offered for kids. It really does use a good job
Twitter: theCapNdavid
says:
Not just for kids. See funny comments on my blog. http://davidwhook.wordpress.com/
Our 5 year old brushes her teeth herself in the morning and we brush at night. We brush our 1 year old’s teeth at night.
Twitter: sahmreviews
says:
My daughters are 6 and 5 and the rule is that they brush their teeth twice a day. In the morning, they get to do it themselves and in the evening, I do it for them. The dentist told us that kids can’t effectively brush completely on their own until they are much older!
I have a Sonicare and am excited to see that they’ve introduced a children’s version!
cute toothbrushes always seem to help with the chore, the ones with see through areas with floaty charms and glitter go over well!
I always made sure that my children had appealing toothbrushes and toothpaste that tasted good. Since my three are the same age, they brushed teeth together. It was a family time and apparantly great fun, because to this day (they are 20), they have perfect teeth.
We are much the same as the others who have commented. My nine year old now nearly always does her own teeth twice a day, sometimes I give them a good once over just to help. The other two who are 6 and 7 brush twice a day, in the morning on their own and at night with help from me or daddy.
Twitter: hula_hoopin_mom
says:
We have the kids sing to each other – and when they are done with the song, they can stop brushing. Or you can actually use a timer too and have the kids set it.
hernandez5621@netzero(dot)com
I make sure they brush and “swish” w/ a flouride rinse twice per day…
Twitter: falwyn
says:
Our 6 yo brushes herself. Our 4 yo brushes, and then we usually help him some. I’m just glad they love their dentist – and have never had any cavities.
I also retweeted about this giveaway: http://twitter.com/falwyn/status/5000762887
:)
I handle my son’s dental hygiene by making sure he brushes his teeth both morning and night.
We push hard for the twice a day, but also started using the agent cool blue to get them to brush long enough and all over. They need to keep brushing until it is all out of their mouth and off their tongue. I think they are learning to swish it our of their mouth and we need to go back to brushing it away.
I bought toothbrushes that play a song so your child knows how long to brush.
That and regular dental visits!
We have 4 kids between the ages 4-8, so at this age they seem to B slackers. We have 2 monitor their teeth brushing and oral hygiene habits. Regular dental visits R also a must
Since my little one is only three, we brush her teeth for her and then let her brush. She may or may not hit many teeth.