How ODONTOGEMS Got Its Name (And Why I Almost Changed It)
From time to time I get asked, “Where did the name ODONTOGEMS come from?” It’s a fair question. After all, ODONTOGEMS isn’t exactly the easiest word to pronounce. It certainly isn’t a word that naturally rolls off the tongue and, depending on how quickly you try to say it, can start sounding like some obscure dental condition. In fact, there was a period where I seriously considered changing it.
To understand where it came from, we only need to go back a little further. Long before ODONTOGEMS existed, I was running The ODONTOJAM Podcast. Now “ODONTOJAM” itself came from the word odontogram — basically the dental chart dentists use to record fillings, decay, missing teeth, wear, and all the other things we love talking about. It’s the thing your dentist is referring to when they suddenly start calling out what sounds like complete gibberish: “14 composite… MOD… distal… wear facet… caries…” while you’re lying there wondering if any of it is good news.
I liked the name ODONTOJAM because it was memorable for dentists, who were the target audience. They immediately understood the reference, might have had a small chuckle, and hopefully remembered it afterwards. So when it eventually came time to name these little tooth characters I had been imagining, my brain was already conditioned to think in terms of “ODONTO.” At the same time, the characters were collecting gems and wearing them on their heads. ODONTO + GEMS. ODONTOGEMS. That was pretty much it.
Except I wasn’t completely sold.
For quite a while I went back and forth between ODONTOGEMS and DONTOGEMS. Part of me thought DONTOGEMS sounded cleaner and was easier to pronounce. ODONTOGEMS felt a little clunky. Awkward. Maybe even slightly ridiculous. But every time I wrote the two names down beside each other, DONTOGEMS looked like something was missing. ODONTOGEMS just looked better. More complete somehow. It looked less like the name of a product and more like the name of a world, and by that stage I think I already knew that the world was the part I was most interested in building.
So I stuck with it.
Then one day I decided to put the name through what can only be described as a very sophisticated branding test. I asked my daughter, who was probably about 18 months old at the time, if she could say “ODONTOGEMS.” She looked at me and responded with something along the lines of, “OH DO DO DO OH.”
I laughed. A lot. Partly because it was hilarious hearing her confidently attempt this ridiculous word, but also because I suddenly imagined thousands of children potentially butchering the name in exactly the same way. And for some reason, instead of making me question the name again, it made me like it even more.
Maybe it didn’t need to be perfectly clean or easy to pronounce. Children mispronounce things all the time. They invent words, change words, make weird noises, and generally don’t care whether something follows the rules of good branding. They just play with it. And considering this whole project is built around imagination, stories, play and having a bit of fun with teeth, maybe a slightly strange name was actually quite fitting.
So there you have it. ODONTOGEMS. A slightly awkward name, a slightly ridiculous name, and apparently “OH DO DO DO OH” if you’re 18 months old.
I think we’ll keep it.
See you next time
Dr. Jesse
7:35pm
From Avilas Falls — ODONTOLAND