I’m sure that the new GUM Star Wars toothbrush – the one that lights up like a lightsaber and flashes for one minute  – (the length of time you should brush upper teeth, with another minute for the lowers) was intended for little kids.  But my nearly twelve year old son loves the thing.  His father does, too.  But that’s another story.

The cool new toothbrushes from GUM come as electric rotary brushes in the shape of Star Wars characters, as the light-up lightsabers, and as character brushes featuring Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vadar and more.  And if they might help him brush – forget longer — how about brush at all – I’m all for ’em.

Plus, I love their video:

As a matter of fact, it makes sense that MomTrends held an event to celebrate the launch of the new line of licensed brushes at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Because honestly – the fact that my son brushed both last night and this morning for a full minute (we’re working on two), kind of falls into the Ripley’s category of strange but true.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.  Star Wars is the most profitable licensing product of all time.

What was surprising were a few facts shared by Dr. Mike Ignelzi about teeth and kids:

1. Your child’s first visit to the dentist should coincide with her or his first tooth.

2. Using sealant can help prevent 9 out of 10 cavities. (I don’t know if that was an actual statistic or just hyperbole – but either way, it’s significant.)

3. Before the age of ten only 20% of kids have cavities.  After the age of ten that number almost triples.

So basically – your kid needs to brush better.  And if a Star Wars toothbrush works. May the force be with you.

You can find these manual, power and light-up toothbrushes at CVS, Drugstore.com, Walmart and oth

 

er grocery and drugstore companies. Today’s the last day to enter to with the GUM Star Wars Sweepstakes to win a trip for a family of 4 to the Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, FL on August 23-26! To find out more, visit the Star Wars Gum Facebook Page. Enter promo code “Star Wars” at check out to receive $1 off your purchase of a Star Wars manual toothbrush twin pack at Gum Brand.