Children's books about dentistry are abundant and popular, especially if the protagonists are animals or popular children's characters like Barney or Dora. Most of the storylines are either about the Tooth Fairy or about first experiences at the dentist.

There are other dental health promotion books targeted at young children which explain the importance of oral health and how to maintain a healthy dentition. On the local market one also finds popular children's books translated in Maltese like 'Gigi Tugghu Darstu' translated by Trevor Zahra and 'Is-Sinna ta' Nora' adapted in Maltese by Clare Azzopardi. Recently young Samuel Farrugia also published 'Samuel and The Magic Tooth'.

I was inspired to write this short story through my special interest within the dental field which is geriatric dentistry; dental care for elderly persons. It is a fairly new field, introduced by the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the University of Malta merely five years ago. Nowadays, it is a module studied by all our dental students, not only those who are studying to become dentists but also dental hygienists, dental technologists and dental assistants.

Although 'Id-Dentatura tan-Nanna' focuses on Grandma's dentures, the main message to be delivered is about the perception and attitudes of young children towards older persons.

International and local literature, as well as my personal experiences, reveal that although children's attitudes towards the ageing process are often negative, their general attitude towards older people is positive. Thus children identify ill health, loss or greying of hair, loss of teeth or wearing a denture with old age and this generates the fear of growing old or a negative attitude towards the ageing process.

In a recent study by Sally Newman(2017), when children were asked to find an adjective to describe an older person, they all used positive adjectives like 'pleasant', 'good', 'happy', 'pretty', 'kind' and 'loved'. I believe that these adjectives are also endorsed by our Maltese children who have very loving and respectful relationships with older persons especially their grandparents and great grandparents.

For this story, I collaborated with one of Malta's leading children's writers, Nathalie Portelli, who made the necessary arrangements to my story in order to make it possible for it to be printed as a children's book.

Artist David Mifsud magically transformed words into pictures, bringing Grandma and the children to life.

'Id-Dentatura tan-Nanna' is published by Wise Owl Publications.