The Witch and the Toothbrush

The Witch and the Toothbrush -
A Story about Dental Hygiene

A dozen years ago, Prof. Herb Judes, then Head of the Dental Faculty of Tel Aviv University, asked me start a dental outreach program in Israel. Outreach for me means reaching out to kids. After all, when you teach a child good oral hygiene, his teeth will likely last a lifetime. Soon we were bringing small and large groups of Jewish and Arab school children to the Dental school. The kids came from all over the country and received free refreshments, toothbrushes and other gifts and most importantly had an initial dental assessment carried out by senior dental students.

However, there was one small problem. I had a 'window' of 45 minutest between the welcome lecture and the actual clinical assessment of the children. In order to fill this time productively, I decided to cook up a short children’s play related to good dental hygiene and called it “The Witch and the Toothbrush”.

In the story, a witch whose broom is broken falls from the sky and meets a young girl. The girl makes a nasty comment about the witch's teeth (which were ugly as night). The witch loses her temper and casts a spell on the girl and turns her into a red toothbrush. The spell will only be broken if a young child learns to brush his or her teeth properly, using the toothbrush.

The play soon took on a life of its own. I asked the children, parents and teachers to play the various roles. We brought in props. We added a pianist, some songs, and my colleague Dr. Alon Amit agreed to play the role of the dentist (appropriate, since he is also a real one). The play was even translated and performed in Arabic!

The head of children's cardiology at a major hospital met with me and told me how important oral hygiene was in his field – would I turn the play into a film for his patients, he asked. I raised the money from Shari Arison's fund and the Braverman family in Los Angeles and enlisted my friend, the late great Dudu Dotan to play the part of the witch. Together with the cinema department of Tel Aviv University, we auditioned hundreds of children for the roles of the girl and boy, a talented scriptwriter transformed my story, and we even had animation. The thirteen minute film, the Witch and the Toothbrush, is now freely available in

Hebrew http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGvETmmRm24

And

Arabic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyNCRISkxo

About five years ago, Evi Wyler and I decided to publish the Hebrew version of this story into book form, and so far have we (mostly she) have donated about six thousand copies. The publication is quite unique because it contains this story but when you flip it over and upside down, you’ll find another one of my story’s, "What to do with a Used Toothbrush".

The English versions of the two stories are available free on http://www.meltells.com/, alongside my other stories about dental and general well-being with my popular characters such as Dr. Cluck, the Tooth fairy and Mel the Smell Dragon.

Ironically, after getting the movie filmed and the books produced, I have now gone back to the original play. We have recently performed in Tel Aviv and Netanya, and are headed to Kiryat Gat on August 4^th to perform for 100 Ethiopian children, all of them new immigrants. The Jewish Agency for Israel runs a program which "...offers the young immigrants an embracing non-formal learning and enrichment opportunity that can help them in their lives in the Absorption Centers and help them get ahead in school. We believe that the tough, frustrating encounter with Absorption Center life can be turned into an enjoyable, fruitful and effective learning experience for new immigrants, which is why the program includes a variety of activities relating to the children’s world, such as general subjects like public health and life skills..."

Dental hygiene is of great importance, since children from Ethiopia often have very low caries levels when they first arrive in Israel. However studies have shown that after one or two years of eating sweets and other cariogenic snacks, their caries levels soar. We hope to give each child toothpaste and a toothbrush kit, and books for their classrooms and library.

To be or not to be an inventor?

Inventors, inventing, inventions...

I don't remember inventing things as a kid. Actually I am quite clumsy at technological things and have trouble working practically anything. When I was in high school, I developed a knack for taking pianos apart, but was unable to put them back together. Our piano in Ottawa required an urgent visit from the piano tuner, who scolded me for opening it up in the first place. The subsequent summer I took apart the piano at summer camp in Hunter, New York (not far from Woodstock, but a summer too early). I survived camp, but the piano did not. The keys and other wooden parts were offered up in a subsequent camp bonfire.

So I am not your geek inventor. I come up with an idea, and if it is very simple, I can do it. If not, I need help from the real innovative people, such as my friend Hagai Cohen.

The first invention that I remember was the debris blower, an idea I came up with while cleaning the crap under lemon trees. Getting under a lemon tree is a difficult thorny process, and I suggested to the citrus grove person-in-charge, Kobi (it was on the kibbutz) to attach an irrigation pipe to the wrong end of a vacuum cleaner. I remember the prototype that Kobi built, I understand it served the kibbutz well for several years. I have no idea whether the present day blowers are progeny or not.

During the 1970s I had the idea of flat drums and tried to interest my friend Sammy, the owner of Isramusic, to invest and build a few. He demurred, but to this day insists that I invented flat drums. Go know.

During that same period I had an empty book which I filled with my early inventions – a sock attacher that kept pairs from separating during the washing, and a writing utensil for people unable to grasp a pen.

When I joined the Dental School in 1982 I began inventing things with my friend Dr. Ervin Weiss. This collaboration gave birth to the QuadLoop, and early versions of the two-phase mouthwash. I haven't stopped since.

What does it take to be an inventor? I think you have to be a dreamer, to think laterally. You have to hate routine, be lazy about doing menial chores, and motivated into finding easier ways of doing them.

Most inventions (perhaps 99%) never make it to the marketplace, and among those that do, many fail commercially. Most inventors end up losing money in their eagerness to see their innovation become a reality. The odds are against us. Nevertheless, if you look at the invention process as fun, and limit yourself to only small investments (the size of any other hobby, such as skiing), then you can't lose. If your invention hits the shelves, you may make some serious money, and if not, you've spent a few bucks having a rip roaring time trying.