We want to give young people (age 1218) a new realtionship to brushing their teeth. We do this by putting dental hygiene into a new context by placing it in the school. At the back of each classroom there will be a �Comfort Zone� a place where brushing teeth is considered fun. Through this we hope to create a rutine that will spill over into the teens daily lives. The teens will still have monthly checkyps at the dentist, who will measure the progress of the child.
Colour your teeth clean
HOW MIGHT WE Create new, fun relations to toothbsrushing?
HOW to make the impact: In the �Comfort Zone� we plan to place a group of objects that will engage the teenager in the act of brushing his/her teeth. The Toothbrush: We create a new and fun toothbrush which is shaped like cutlery to enforce the connection between food and brushing. The toothpaste: We create colourful tasty toothpastes that give the user a feeling of surprise and delight.
WHY this nudge: It is very importent to get a good routine for toothbrushing while you are young. We need to communicate the dental care in a way that young people don´t feel like they are forced to brush their teeth by authority but do it because of good experiences. In this project there are lots of opportunities to make events or other kinds of social activities. It could be made by the young people themselves at after school clubs as an educational activity.
OBSERVED BEHAVIOR: Through interviews with teenagers and dentists, we discovered that the young people seem ignorant about dental care and don’t really prioritize that well. To the teenagers it seems like a mundane, unnecessary task. They often forget brushing teeth at night or in the morning beacuse they lack the daily rutine nececary.
TARGET BEHAVIOR: By making toothbrushing a social experience involving the senses, we implement toothbrushing into the teenagers daily lives whilst also reminding them that eating and brushing teeth are linked.
MEASURING the impact of the nudge: By implementing the �Comfort Zone� for toothbrushing in the schools the dentist from the community center can observe the change of the young peoples dental hygiene. In the long term there should be a decrease of cavaties and gum disease.