the SmockLady says . . . » toothbrush http://thesmocklady.com/reviewblog a review blog Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:54:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Clean your teeth all by yourself! http://thesmocklady.com/reviewblog/clean-your-teeth-all-by-yourself http://thesmocklady.com/reviewblog/clean-your-teeth-all-by-yourself#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:08:38 +0000 SmockLady http://thesmocklady.com/reviewblog/?p=17

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sonicare for Kids.

sonicare-tnWhen 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.

package

A Note: Our pediatrician and our dentist both stress that children should have assistance brushing their teeth until they can write confidently in cursive. The thought behind this is the dexterity and ability to maneuver the toothbrush around in the mouth and be able to hold it correctly. We take turns with our children; they get to brush their teeth first (great for learning independence when they are younger) and then one of us parents get a turn (great for following up to make sure all the teeth were brushed thoroughly). This has worked well for us to date. For those of you who came here via the review/BlogHer links, we have six children. They are 14, 11, 10, 8, 5, 2. Knock on wood, we have not yet had any cavities in a single tooth in this house.

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.

boxed

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.

unboxed

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.

parts

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.

fronts
Princerella brushing those front teeth all by herself.
sides & back
Princerella brushing those sides and back teeth all 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.

ready

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.

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