The Toothbrush Training Game
Research
Tooth decay is a national epidemic. It’s America's most common infectious disease, and it attacks tissue that can't ever heal.
Health professionals want effective weapons to fight the ubiquity of plaque. Brush Up is such a weapon.
The National Institute of Health supported trials of Brush Up through the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research with institutional review by the Morehouse School of Medicine. The results of our trial are in this whitepaper now awaiting peer review at the journal of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
For over a year, these trials tracked brushing with the Budd Brush by a group of thirty-four diverse children, ages 5 and 6.
Does their brushing improve?
Consider these performance maps. Researchers recorded children brushing in the lab without help from parent, scientist, timer or music. They weren't playing a game during this test.
They brush better in two weeks.
Each map shows toothbrush time. Bands indicate time on each tooth surface (inside, outside and biting). It takes 7.5 seconds to fill all three bands.
The first map shows how children brushed before playing the game. Despite life-long training by loving parents and professionals, these children do very poorly. They brush only surfaces that are easy to see and convenient to reach.
The children then played the game at home every night with early prototype hardware. They were given no instruction by parents or researchers.
The second map shows the brush pattern of children when they returned after two weeks. Again, they played without the game or any other guidance. There is stark improvement in their performance.
Do they remember?
In a second study, children played for two weeks and then the game was taken away for a full year. Did they forget everything?
They retain improvement.
Consider the graph below (click the graph for a larger image). The orange area shows previously ignored inner surfaces. Although overall time has diminished, every area is brushed. There are no more neglected areas.
