Fourth-year students co-author children's book about dental care

Molina Shah and Aidée Manzano, fourth-year students at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry, had always dreamed about writing a children's book. In early 2024, they decided to make that dream a reality.

Their book, “My Smile: Mi Sonrisa,” was published in July. Shah and Manzano co-authored the story in hopes of educating children about dental health and reducing anxiety surrounding going to the dentist.

After coming up with the idea, Manzano and Shah worked on the book regularly over the next several months. Shah said she and Manzano divided the workload of creating the book.

“We would periodically meet and just knock out pages at a time,” Shah said. 

Manzano said the hardest part of creating the book was deciding what information to include. Manzano said she and Shah thought about decisions that young children often make each day, such as what foods to eat, subsequently basing the book's content around those choices. 

After producing a draft and receiving feedback from pediatric dentistry faculty at UNC, the final step was formatting the book for publication. 

After around seven months of planning, “My Smile: Mi Sonrisa,” was published through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing program.

The story, including both Spanish and English pages, follows a young boy named Orbi, based on Manzano's seven-year-old brother, as he goes to the dentist. 

Manzano, who is Mexican American and lived in Mexico for part of her life, is fluent in Spanish. She said her younger siblings, who have only lived in the United States, have had a harder time learning the language. Manzano said she wanted to include Spanish to help children in similar circumstances.

Proceeds from the book's sales are set go toward the Autism Society of North Carolina, a nonprofit that supports individuals with autism and their families. Manzano said she and Shah chose the foundation because Manzano's brother is autistic.

Shah said she and Manzano view “My Smile: Mi Sonrisa” as a waiting room book that will help kids feel less afraid during a trip to the dentist's office. 

Caroline Sawicki, an assistant professor of pediatric and public health in the School of Dentistry, said books like “My Smile: Mi Sonrisa” can be effective at easing kids’ anxiety.

“A lot of child psychology kind of teaches us that when kids are familiar with things or they recognize things, they're less scared of them later,” Sawicki said.

She also said visual demonstrations like picture books are helpful in teaching kids about things like tooth brushing techniques and going to the dentist. 

Shah said there are not many children’s books about dentistry, saying that creating the book was a passion project for her and Manzano.

“We always were really close friends and I think we always wanted to do something together, but also kind of make our mark in a way,” she said. 

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