6 Questions about the tooth fairy explained

Folklore about the tooth fairy is a custom that is believed to date as far back as the 1900s. Folklore has it that when children lose one (or more) of their baby teeth, they should place the tooth under their pillow and while they are asleep at night the tooth fairy will come and exchange the tooth for money or a present.

We here at Stem Protect are also interested in baby teeth or as they are also known milk teeth. We store stem cells from baby teeth to help cure diseases and it seems the tooth fairy collects baby teeth with a similar objective to help people.

Read – Facts about milk teeth

Read – Why store milk teeth in a stem cell bank

In this article, we explain 6 frequently asked questions about the tooth fairy.

Why does the tooth fairy take your teeth?

No one knows the definite answer to this question and, because the story about the tooth fairy has been told by many people over many decades, several reasons have emerged for why the tooth fairy takes your teeth.

Some say the tooth fairy takes your teeth so it can give them to babies who do not have any teeth. Others say the tooth fairy needs teeth to build nice white castles for all the other tooth fairies to live, while some others say the tooth fairy needs teeth to make fairy dust which she makes by crushing teeth that are not so nice and squeaky clean into dust.

Why does the tooth fairy keep teeth?

Folklore tells us that the tooth fairy keeps teeth for her own personal pleasure. The tooth fairy is fascinated with teeth and keeps them with her in her castle as ornaments that light up her surroundings, especially if they are clean and shiny teeth.

Some versions of the folklore say that the tooth fairy only keeps teeth for a very brief period of time after collecting them. She keeps teeth safe after taking them from underneath pillows so she can quickly place them in the sky before they lose their shine.

What does the tooth fairy do with the teeth she collects?

Many people believe the tooth fairy really wants to help other babies and adults who either have no teeth or who have problems with their teeth. To help babies without teeth, the tooth fairy recycles the teeth she collects and places them into babies’ gums so they eventually grow teeth.

The tooth fairy also helps children and adults who have lost their adult teeth. She does this by handing over the baby teeth she collects to dentists who make implants with the teeth to use for people in need.

Some others believe that the tooth fairy holds great big parties with lots of her fairy friends and she hands out the teeth she collects as gifts to her friends.

Other versions of the folklore say she builds castles with the teeth, she crushes and makes fairy dust with the teeth that are not so clean, she places teeth in the sky so they shine as brightly as stars, and that she makes them into pretty jewellery which she gives out as gifts.

What does the tooth fairy look like?

The classic legend of the tooth fairy is often presented in literature as a small flying creature with wings who carries a wand and sprinkles fairy dust wherever she goes. She looks quite similar in appearance to Tinkerbell in the Peter Pan tales and is sometimes pictured wearing beautiful ball gowns, at other times with smart one-piece jumpsuits and her hair tied up in a bun.

The tooth fairy is usually pictured with a smiling, happy-looking face and usually comes across as quite an endearing character.

We think, though, that in reality, the tooth fairy may just look very much like mum and dad.

How much money does the tooth fairy leave per tooth?

The tooth fairy does not seem to consistently leave an exact amount of money per tooth. It does seem to really depend on the household the child is in.

We have heard of tooth fairies leaving £1 per tooth in some households and higher amounts in other households.

We have also heard that with some households, the tooth fairy sometimes decides not to leave behind any money but rather leave a gift a child so eagerly wants and to whom that gift would mean more than any amount of money.

Has anyone ever seen the tooth fairy?

Some people claim to have seen the tooth fairy, but there is no independent confirmation of whether these sightings were indeed of the classic tooth fairy legend or of look-alikes put together by mum and dad.

Losing a tooth is an exciting experience for children who can look forward to a visit from the tooth fairy. For us at Stem Protect, a baby tooth excites us because we know that tooth can bring about a life-changing difference to a family at a future date.

Please contact us if you would like to find out more about the groundbreaking work we do with stem cells extracted from baby teeth and how we can help you protect your child’s future.