I'm usually wary of 2-or-more-in-1 inventions; more often than not, they end up doing neither thing very well. Like sporks, which are barely suitable for eating KFC "mashed potatoes", but nothing else.
But this teething ring/toothbrush seems interesting, and a lot less threatening than giving a baby a long, pointy, toothbrush-shaped implement. I wonder if they couldn't have even more brush on there, though. I swear, given her toddlery incomplete technique, I'd guess at least 75% of the kid's actual teethcleaning comes from gnawing on the nailbrush in the bathtub.
The Teething Ring Toothbrush is around. I saw it at extrasmall, where it's $5.50 [extrasmall.com]
my dentist giave me one of these to use with our 6 m/o for teething, she prefers a wooden teething ring (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5730990) but the idea of a brush is nice.
our girl is the worst at toothbrushing-- the toothpaste is "too spicy!" and other excuses make me frantic that her teeth are just rottting in there. this teething ring/toothbrush did nothing for her, but sometimes i can get her to chew on one of those "baby's 1st toothbrushes" from one step ahead. it's all silicone with soft bristles so at least the teeth have some kind of cleaning action going on.
Though not specifically a teething ring, this looks a lot like a ring-handled toothbrush we got from Japan...
Oh, and Rae, by the way, those teeth have got to get brushed one way or another... it's actually really easy to brush teeth while the kid is screaming her head off to stop, as you'll never have to ask her to open her mouth wider. :)
(Seriously, we did that for a couple months with our daughter then she finally realised it was even easier on her if she'd cooperate...)
I like this idea, more for the child-not-being-stabbed-in-the-throat, than for the actual tooth brushing. While our dentist didn't tell us NOT to brush our son's teeth, he DID say that it wasn't any big thing as a child's tooth enamel wears off a lot quicker than us adults and therefore leaves no room for cavaties... (Did I make this too much of a run-on sentance?)
Somebody needs to just invent toddler rawhide - that would make teeth brushing so much easier