FRONT DESK
Brush with Fame How B.C.’s Thor became the whiskered face of Ostrow’s mobile dentistry program
Long before Thor joined USC as a community dentistry ambassador, the unicycle-riding caveman was a regular in Johnny Hart’s B.C., a comic strip chronicling life in prehistoric times. In that world, he’s an inventor (of the wheel and the comb) and a self-described ladies’ man. These days, Thor’s cleaned up his act — at USC, at least (he still makes regular appearances in B.C.) — serving as the ambassador for Ostrow’s mobile dentistry program. But how did he make the jump to community dentistry? The answer comes from more than four decades ago when then-mobile clinic director Charlie Goldstein was reading B.C. Seeing the similarities between the ways the cavemen improvised Stone Age versions of modern amenities and the way the mobile clinics had to do much the same (cardboard dental chairs, paint compressor-powered handpieces), Goldstein was inspired to create “Thor, the Dental Ambassador.” He sent his concept to Hart and asked permission to use it as a lapel pin for mobile dental clinic volunteers. Happy to recognize “someone in this crazy world doing something for his fellow man,” Hart refined Goldstein’s drawing a bit and gave him unrestricted usage. Though both men are no longer around, Thor, the Dental Ambassador shows no signs of slowing down, still representing the mobile dental program and the continued work it does in Goldstein’s honor to give back to others in a still crazy world.
Game on! Do not pass “Go.” Do not collect $200. Go directly to dentalopoly.com to buy your own edition of the dentistry-inspired send-up to the Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) classic. Instead of Park Place, there’s “Plaque Place;” Marvin Gardens has been replaced with “Margin Gardens,” and instead of going to jail, you’re sent back to dental school after failing your dental board exams. Dentalopoly proceeds help support Operation Smile and S.O.M.E. (“So That Others Might Eat”) Clinic — both of which provide free dental treatment to those in need.
PHOTO BY DEREK TAM
TRODENT SPRIN G 2018
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