Thanks to it being tax-funded and free, Swedish children’s dental health has been world leading. Now, for the first time in decades, the Swedish Dental Service organization and public care provider Folktandvården saw a reverse in the trend. Caries was becoming more common and the Swedish children’s dental health was deteriorating. One cause that was considered to affect dental health negatively was to be found in our changed lifestyle and eating habits. But research also revealed that a crucial role was played by the parents, who unfortunately didn’t brush their kid’s teeth good enough or often enough. It was clear that in order to turn the trend again, the national organization needed a new tool in addition to the children’s routine clinic visits and the standard information from the school nurse.

The creative idea behind “Rocka munnen” is quite simple: education through gamification. Because in contemporary life, digital apps are a natural feature that makes every day easier. It's just as common for children to play games on the phone and on the tablet. What if toothbrushing could attract as much as screen time? We wanted to give families a tool to create new habits with, while at the same time make every meeting with Folktandvården a positive and fun experience. It was time for Folktandvården to move into tablets and phones.

The surveys the parents carried out told us that they didn’t support their kids with brushing twice a day, and many of them acknowledged the toothbrushing as a sensitive situation that often caused conflict. We understood that parents choose their battles wisely and simultaneously longed for support to change behaviours, emotions and routines associated with toothbrushing.

Rocka munnen was launched in May of 2018. Since we recognized the need of new users finding us via the top rankings in AppStore and Google Play, we synchronized the launch via a national PR campaign with all the regional branches of the Swedish Dental Organization as the spokesperson. The parents in the target audience was reached via "family liftestyle" influencers in podcasts and YouTube-channels and a Spotify-profile was created with all the themesongs. The launch was also amplified with digital communication. In order to secure presence and effect during a limited period of time we used Facebook and YouTube for ads and pre-rolls.

“Rocka munnen” has reached 115 730 downloads and 92,8 % are returning users (May 13 2019). According to Alexa Reach the communication to launch and continuously promote the app has a potential reach of 7 million. A year after it’s launch “Rocka munnen” has helped children brush their teeth 1 376 217 times.