New game helps kids brush their teeth for two minutes, twice a day

Troubling statistics show less than half of children in America brush their teeth twice a day. Additionally, dental decay is the nation’s most common chronic childhood disease.

The Ad Council and the Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives have released a new game that aims to change this. Toothsavers – which is available free on the web at 2min2x.org/PlayToothsavers and as a downloadable app for iOS and Android (both smartphones and tablets) – makes toothbrushing fun by encouraging kids to save an entire kingdom of characters with the swipe of their toothbrush.

Toothsavers’ overarching message aims to encourage kids to brush their teeth for two minutes, twice a day in real life to significantly reduce their risk of oral pain and dental decay. The game features:

·         10 colorful characters whose teeth kids can clean with swipes and taps.

·         10 two-minute animations to make brushing in real life fun.

·         10 colorful cartoon teeth that animate to your voice in two-player mode.

·         An interactive map to chart each day and night that kids brush with Toothsavers.

·         New characters unlocked by brushing two minutes, twice a day with Toothsavers.

·         A parents' section to designate daily brushing times and monitor kids’ brushing progress on a calendar.

Toothsavers is the first mobile app to be entirely created by the Ad Council — a nonprofit organization that has been producing public service campaigns since 1942. Through campaigns like Smokey Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk,” we’ve endeavored to improve the lives of all Americans in the areas of education, health, family/community and safety. Toothsavers represents a huge milestone for us in the world of digital, interactive media. 

Since it launched in 2012, our Kids’ Healthy Mouths campaign has made tremendous progress improving children's oral health habits. A survey released in August indicated that more kids  now regularly brush their teeth, and many parents have seen the campaign’s Public Service Advertisements (PSAs) in both English and Spanish.