Today is Tooth Fairy Day. Which got me wondering where the idea of a tooth fairy came from. Or the concept of buying teeth for that matter.
Fairies have been part of human folklore for many years. They aren’t always benevolent creatures. Some aren’t the sort you would want sneaking into you house at night. Thankfully, the tooth fairy seems to be a different sort.
There isn’t a lot of evidence to suggest where the tooth fairy came from. Many cultures encouraged people to burn baby teeth or you could spend eternity searching for them in the afterlife. The Norse had what was called a tooth fee, that was paid when a child lost their first tooth. Some warriors would wear necklace of children’s teeth for good luck. And Vikings were known to buy children’s teeth.
But in the early 1900s, using fairies to encourage children to do things seemed a popular thing to do. There were bath fairies and fresh air fairies and fairies to encourage you to eat your veggies. All of which sound to me like ways parents were trying to make children do things.
In 1927, a writer by the name of Esther Watkins Arnold wrote a short play for children called, The Tooth Fairy. Around the same time, Arthur Conan Doyle came out with his “proof” that fairies existed, so both adults and children seemed to think there was a possibility they existed.
The play about the tooth fairy was performed in several schools, spreading word of the Tooth Fairy and her limitless supply of coins to be left behind in exchange for teeth. People were encouraged to tell children that the fairy paid more for teeth that had no decay, to get kids to brush their teeth more.
But the Tooth Fairy gained a place in our homes, and often comes to visit when teeth are lost. Although it only seems to work for children. When we lose teeth as adults, we tend to be on the hook for getting new replacement teeth, without the benefit of a payout from the tooth fairy. Doesn’t seem quite fair somehow.
The question I have is where does the tooth fairy get all her money from? And what does she do with all those teeth?
Maybe it’s best that we don’t know.