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Review and Giveaway for the Kolibree Intelligent Bluetooth™ Toothbrush

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Like many parents I struggle to get my children to do a good job of taking care of their teeth. They are old enough that they will no longer let me brush their teeth, but young enough that they really don’t understand how important good dental hygiene is. I first saw the Kolibree Smart Toothbrush at the Consumer Electronics Show and was intrigued to find out if it would actually make our toothbrushing battles any less frequent. I recently tested it out with my 8 year-old twins and was pleasantly surprised that not only does it make them want to brush their teeth it also has them wanting to do a better job and their teeth are noticeably cleaner as a result.

At first glance Kolibree looks like any other good quality electric toothbrush. It is a sonic toothbrush, its charging base plugs into an electric outlet and the toothbrush charges when sitting on the base. It comes with 2 removable brush heads and additional heads are available to purchase. However, unlike a regular electric toothbrush Kolibree uses 3D motion sensors to monitor how you are brushing and give you feedback.

To use the toothbrush you first need to download the free iOS or Android app. With the app you create an account for the family and profiles for each member who will be using it.

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In Use

It took me about 5 minutes to set up the app with profiles for all the members of my family. Once it is set up it is very easy to switch profiles, you just tap on the picture of the user and it lets you choose which family member is using it. When you are brushing there are 2 brushing programs to choose from- Go Pirate and Coach. Before each session the app will remind you to connect to the toothbrush via Bluetooth if you are not already connected.

It is very easy to switch toothbrush heads, making it easy to use with multiple family members. The 2 brush heads that come with the Kolibree are identical, so we added colored tape to be able to identify whose brush was whose (we tried Sharpie but that rubbed off). I did notice that the replacement brush heads come with a variety of different colored bristles so this won’t be an issue in future, but it would be nice to see 2 different colors come with the brush.

My kids had used manual and battery operated rotating tooth brushes before, but not a sonic toothbrush. I was unsure how they would react to this, especially as my son (with ASD) has sensory issues, so I had them feel the vibrations on their hand before using it the first time, the vibrations didn’t bother them at all. The brush handle is as long as a standard adult electric toothbrush but it is very light- weighing only 2.5oz, so my children found it easy to use.

Coach

iPhone Screenshot 5This app shows your mouth divided into 6 sections and as a 2 minute timer runs it takes you through brushing each section of your mouth- brushing inner, outer and biting surfaces for each of the 6 areas. It shows you which direction your brush strokes should be in, and encourages you to spent equal time on each section. This app is great to use with kids the first time they use the Kolibree, and for adults and older kids in the long term. It not only makes you brush for a full 2 minutes but teaches you how to effectively clean all tooth surfaces during that time. As an adult I find this app really useful and interestingly my 8 year-old daughter likes to use this instead of the Go Pirate app.

Go Pirate

iPhone Screenshot 1This game is designed to encourage children to brush. They can pick a costume for their pirate and head off in search of gold. Each time they brush an icon at the bottom of the screen shows them which part of their mouth to brush, and a pirate also gives them verbal directions. If they follow the directions they will collect gold coins. Each time they brush they move to a new place on a treasure map, and there are treasure chests to find along the way. My son loves this app and collecting the gold coins. He is very competitive both at beating his sister and his own personal best score.

Checkup

iPhone Screenshot 3

After you complete a brushing session you can go to the “Check Up” section of the app and see how you did. Each of your teeth is shown in outline and the paler the tooth the better job you did of brushing that area, yellow areas show where you need to do a better job. In between brushing sessions you can also see your accumulated brushing data in the Check Up, so you can tell which areas you need to work on more. My kids love being able to see how they did after each session- I think it is their favorite part of the whole Kolibree experience.

The app also has lots of customization options including changing the users handedness, adjusting brushing time, music and transition sounds. For me a very important feature is that you can easily switch between multiple family members within the app and you can have the family’s account on multiple devices. We usually use the app on my phone but in case I am not home at brushing time we also have it on my husbands phone and a family iPad. The data seamlessly synchs between devices so whatever device we use has their brushing history, and when I’m away from home I can look at my phone and see what time they brushed and how well.

iPhone Screenshot 2Over time each family member accumulates points, moves up levels and earns badges according to both how well and how frequently they brush. You can look back at their brushing history for the last week and see what points and awards they have earned over their brushing lifetime. They are also given a “Kolibree Index Score” based on how well and frequently they brush. These can all act as long term incentives to keep brushing and gives parents a way to monitor progress if they wish to give children rewards for hitting certain milestones.

Overall, although at first glance Kolibree looks much like any other quality electric toothbrush it has many features that make it stand out from the crowd. Its motion sensing technology and app give realtime coaching during brushing and feedback afterwards. The brush is designed to be used by both adults and children and is a great way to get all of the family working on improving their dental hygiene. In the time my family have been using it we have had noticeably less battles over teeth brushing, my kids are brushing more frequently, for longer and are consciously trying to do a better job when they brush. My 8 year old son said “mum this is a great way to get me to brush” and I think that sums it up pretty well! I will be ordering more brush heads so the rest of the family and use it too.

The Kolibree Smart Toothbrush is available from Kolibree.com and Amazon the basic pack including Tooth brush, charging base, 2 heads and app is $149, other combo packs are available. Replacement brushes are $19 for a 3 pack.

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