Anna Razdolsky recently fulfilled a dream she has nurtured for years: she published her first book.
Because the book, called “The Smile Team,” is about oral health and improving self-esteem in children and adults, it’s only fitting that it be released in February, which is National Children’s Dental Health Month.
The book is about a young girl who wants to perform with her mom during a surprise party she’s throwing for her older brother. Mom doesn’t want to do the performance because she doesn’t like her smile and doesn’t like to do anything that draws attention to it.
After a trip to the dentist, Mom has a choice to make: Will she take a fast approach to a more beautiful smile, or will she opt for a solution that will take a little longer, but will keep her teeth and gums healthy for years to come?
“The Smile Team” shows how teamwork is the best solution for solving a variety of problems. It also promotes the idea that sometimes the best results take thought, research and a team approach.
This book goes beyond Mom’s quest for a pretty smile and explores how children at a young age can learn organizational and leadership skills, too.
Anna wrote the book for a couple of reasons. She has a genuine love and appreciation for books because they weren’t always easily accessible to her. As a child growing up in Donetsk, Ukraine (former Soviet Union), not all books could be purchased effortlessly. Instead, you had to collect 100 kilos of scrap paper and turn it in for recycling. Then you would be given a coupon that was used to get a book. As children, she and several of her friends would pool their scrap paper so they could get a book to share.
Her other reason for writing the book is because during her 30 years of working with children and raising four children of her own, she has witnessed first-hand the effects of good and bad oral health on self-esteem and self-confidence. She wanted to convey that connection through a story that children and adults might relate to.
The mom in “The Smile Team” doesn’t initially realize how her personal insecurities affect her children.
Members of the Forever Smiles team routinely teach children about the importance of caring for their teeth when they’re in our office for appointments or fieldtrips, or while we’re speaking to students at schools. Sometimes it’s more difficult to teach those lessons to adults.
“My hope is that as parents read my book to their children, they’ll learn more about the benefits of keeping their smiles healthy,” Anna says.
The book’s inspiration came from dozens of conversations Anna has had with adult patients, parents and friends through the years.
“When I see a mom in her thirties or forties and she says she needs implants or veneers, my immediate response is to explain that she needs a plan first,” Anna says. “All these years of working alongside Dr. Razdolsky and seeing the variety of cases we have treated inspired me to write this book.”
Although “The Smile Team” is Anna’s first book, it won’t be her last. She has founded Forever Smiles Publishing to help children and their parents understand the value of oral care and orthodontic treatment through storytelling.
We’re excited to make “The Smile Team” available to students we speak with at local schools, libraries, clubs and children’s groups that visit our office during fieldtrips. The book will be available online this spring at www.Foreversmilespublishing.com.
