Orthodonist uses monkeys to get message across to kids

special to viewDr. Alana Saxe, owner of Saxe Orthodontics, holds a simulated giant toothbrush and her Brush Monkey doll as she stands next to her Volkswagen Smile Bus, Jan. 8. Advertisement

Orthodontist Alana Saxe grew up on a walnut farm in Modesto, Calif. It was a community that fostered a mindset of helping others. When someone was moving, friends chipped in. Come harvest time, everyone helped out. When she moved to Summerlin in 1994, she brought that attitude with her.

Now, she's begun a program called Brush Monkey. It helps teach children the proper way to brush their teeth. The idea began with her own family -- sons Camden, 8, and Tristan, 2, and daughter Simone, 5.

"I joke around and call my kids monkeys," she said, explaining the name. "Then I went to this convention and saw these cute stuffed animals, and I thought, 'Hmmm.' "

The convention was last fall in Palm Springs, Calif. The stuffed animals were -- you guessed it -- monkeys. They had long arms and hands that could clasp with Velcro to hang anywhere. Saxe, whose office is at 3555 S. Town Center Drive, used them to show her children the proper way to brush.

"I have one, too," she said. "It's my favorite color, orange."

Seeing how fun it made toothbrushing time, she figured other children would be enthusiastic and could benefit from it, too.

Beginning on Jan. 8, she took her Brush Monkey program to two elementary schools -- Ober, 3035 Desert Marigold Lane, and Piggett, 9601 Red Hills Road, and gave demonstrations on dental hygiene. The giant toothbrush prop was an immediate attention-getter. So were the stuffed monkeys she brought along.

"The first thing the kids asked was, 'Do we each get one?' " she said.

The children chose their favorite color, though some ended up swapping them anyway. Along with the cuddly critters came a timer and a toothbrush.

The half-hour program didn't just involve the monkeys. Saxe had children dress in white costumes to represent teeth and threaded a rope between them as though flossing. Giggles erupted when the rope tickled.

"The biggest problem is they get too excited," she said. "It's just as fun for me as it is for them."

Saxe used her own money to buy the monkeys. She purchased them in various colors. Bought in bulk, they each ran her about $3.

"Three bucks, I figure it's a latte, so, who cares," she said.

She uses her Smile Bus -- a vintage 1962 Volkswagen bus -- to bring the program to children. Only, they refer to the vehicle as the "Scooby-Doo" bus. It wasn't just children who noticed her groovy wheels.

"When I started driving it, I'd be scared at stoplights because other drivers would honk at me and (gesture)," she said. "Then I realized they were giving me the hang loose sign, Hawaiian style."

When she first came to town, Saxe was a registered nurse. She worked at University Medical Center Hospital in the intensive care unit for burn patients. She said she liked giving comfort to the patients.

She also volunteered her time at camps for burn victims, where she helped people cope with their life-changing injuries.

When the dental school opened at UNLV in 2002, it was "like a sign," she said, and it prompted her to switch professions to orthodontics. Saxe also is involved with events that raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, research, also called Lou Gehring's disease. Her father-in-law died of it six years ago.

She also spent time as a homeroom helper, sponsors the Pee Wee summer basketball league that meets at Faith Lutheran and does pro bono work at UNLV's orthodontic clinics.

Melissa Attanasio knows Saxe as another mother at Pee Wee games.

"She's great with kids and a hoot to be round," Attanasio said. "You can see that coming to Las Vegas hasn't changed her, even though she's been here quite a while ... When you come from a small town, those (values) are imbedded in you."

Saxe said squeezing so many things into her busy schedule had its roots in her modest upbringing.

"You just make it work," she said. "It's not like I'm bionic."

Bob Martin, who heads UNLV's orthodontic clinic, said having a volunteer orthodontist helped ease the load of seeing 60 to 70 patients a day, the majority of whom are children. He called Saxe an outgoing person who mixes well with others.

"She has no shortcomings," he said. "She has a great rapport with kids."

Saxe plans to take the Brush Monkey program to more schools and possibly expand it to include community centers such as Boys and Girls Clubs. It all traces back to her small town upbringing.

"I'm hoping to turn a little corner of Summerlin into my little community," she said.

Contact Summerlin View and South Summerlin View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.