this game was in the silent auction at school and i was not surprised at all that no one bid on it.  as it was a leftover, it was very generously offered it to me on behalf of my kindergarten classroom. i happily accepted and looked forward to sharing it with the kinders.  

then i put my glasses on. 

one in-focus look at this box and i was immediately horrified. between the grinning ‘dentist’ holding the gigantic tooth in massive pliers, all of the other monster-sized tools laying in wait, and the ‘patient/victim’ with missing teeth and a horrified look on his face, i was beside myself. aside from my own dental fear, i imagined that most children seeing the cover would develop a phobia even if they did not have one before. 

my free-spirited friend offered to take it home to try on her children, (as well as one of her unsuspecting neighbor kids), to gauge their reaction. this experiment was to serve as an ad hoc litmus test to see how young children might react to it. 

upon laying eyes on the game, ‘pearly whites,’ the 3 children in our focus group – sophie, clare, and natalie, instantly loved it and had absolutely no fear of it whatsoever.  as a matter of fact, they giggled with delight as they roved around the gaping mouth, moved ahead to the canines, climbed up the bridge of dental floss, slid down mouthwash falls, and moved back 2 spaces as ‘punishment’ for having a cavity. their collective review was, “it was really fun and we want to play again!”

what? perhaps it is just me?

————————————

some tortures are physical

and some are mental

but the one that is both

is dental. 

-ogden nash