Alexa Smiles For All | The Day My Tooth Broke

A Note From Alexa

Why I wrote this book.

I broke my front tooth doing a flip into a pool in Florida the summer I was eight. I was scared and far from home, and we couldn't find a dentist there, so I waited a few weeks, hiding my smile, until my family could get me back home to New York. That wait taught me something I have never forgotten: I only had to wait a few weeks for the care I needed. A lot of kids wait years.

When my dentist finally fixed my tooth, he gave me back more than a tooth. He gave me back my confidence. I am shy by nature, and my smile is how I connect with people, so losing it even for a little while made me realize how much it mattered. That is why I wrote this book, and why I want to be a dentist someday: so other kids can feel like themselves again too.

Alexa

Smiles for All

Not everyone gets the chance I had.

Here's something I didn't know until recently. For millions of families, dental care is out of reach. Adult dental coverage in safety net programs varies hugely from state to state, and even kids who are covered on paper often can't find a dentist who can actually see them.

That's not just a health issue. It's a confidence issue. It affects how kids show up at school, how people feel in job interviews, how someone walks into a room.

My goal: use this book and this community to raise awareness and raise money for organizations that provide free dental care to children who need it. I'm starting small and local, with 100 books, classroom read-alouds, and a team of teen ambassadors. Partner announcements are coming soon.

The Book

The Day My Tooth Broke

A picture book for ages 4 to 8, inspired by my own broken tooth. It's about a girl who breaks her tooth on vacation, faces her fear in the dentist's chair, and learns that bravery doesn't mean you aren't afraid. It means you do it anyway.

Book page: feeling nervous on the way to the dentist

The scary part

The brave part

The smile after

📖 Coming soon on Amazon Kindle.

Be first to know when it's out

The Research

Smiles matter more than people think.

In my freshman year research class, I studied the connection between smiles and confidence. I surveyed high school students and orthodontic patients in my community, and the results were featured on the cover of the Roslyn News Times and in the Jericho/Syosset Tribune in 2025.

70%+

of the people I surveyed felt self-conscious about their smile before treatment

85%+

noticed a boost in confidence after their treatment was complete

Survey of local high school students and orthodontic patients. Not a scientific sample, but the pattern was loud and clear: confidence lives in your smile.

Alexa's research poster: How Does Orthodontic Treatment Affect Adolescents' Confidence?

My full research poster. Click to view it full size.

In the News

“Alexa Mermelstein all smiles after treatment”

The Roslyn News Times featured my research on how orthodontic treatment connects to confidence and mental health, and the story behind it: a tooth I cracked as a kid that turned into a research project and a goal to become a dentist.

Roslyn News Times · Schneps Media · July 2025