What does the tooth fairy do with all these teeth?

By Meredith

My 6-year-old daughter lost her two front teeth simultaneously this past week (through natural causes –- her brothers didn't knock 'em out with a hockey stick). And while I'm adjusting to her new face with that big gaping hole in her smile, I'm left wonder what I'm supposed to do with her teeth, and the five others that she and her twin brother have lost over the past year.

After the Tooth Fairy put a dollar per tooth inside our special Tooth Fairy pillow the other night, the magical gal's "helper" took the teeth for "safe keeping." But what does "safe keeping" really mean? Tucked away in my jewelry box so no little person can find them? Sealed inside an envelope (so as not to belie its contents) and put inside a baby book? Kept in a craft box to be later made into a bracelet or necklace with the entire set of baby teeth? Or, the last and most realistic option, put in the trash?

Let's be honest. If one of your parents kept all your baby teeth and presented them to you, what in the world would you do with them? Sure, they're interesting, in the way that fossils are interesting. But we don't keep fossils in our homes. On our dressers. They're kept in museums. Where you can go and visit.

I can understand keeping a lock of baby hair. Hair changes as we age. Maybe someone had blonde hair that later turned brunette. Maybe someone had curls as a child and now has straight hair. There's something precious about a soft tuft of baby hair. There's nothing precious about a tooth.

So, my parenting brethren, what should be done with the teeth?

Meredith O'Brien is a journalist who lives with her family in the Boston area.

Comments

[Suzanne Steven]

I think toothfairies were made up to ease children of the fear of losing a tooth. Children are very emotional, and comforting them with the thought of a reward will help them overcome that fear. =)

[M.Alves]

My mom kept all my baby teeth. I found them in a vase when I was about 14. By the time I was 21 they had disintegrated to little tooth bits and dust. I plan to keep my kids teeth until they fall apart too.

[Jesse Hake]

I have sympathy for you. But it's our duty to play part of their childhood or the child's world. And it's also a way to reminisce our own childhood days when our parents were our tooth fairies. Likewise, when they get older, they will also feel the same happiness, seeing milk teeth or, maybe, become fairies themselves. Still wondering what you should do? Keep a tooth. And when they get more mature, show it to them as you look into their eyes. You will see the child that once you were before.

[Katia Craig]

Come to think of it: where does the tooth fairy store all of those teeth? I mean, does every kid have a different tooth fairy assigned to him or her, or is it just one fairy for all the kids out there? Pretty Santa-like, don't you think?

Anyway, I have a question. What if your kids accidentally put one of your lost dental implants under their pillow? Will the tooth fairy trade that with money? LOL. Such are the things that we talk about when we were still living in Sarasota.

[Patsy Dupre]

When I was a kid, I would keep all my teeth inside my pillow. As in, I've had like seven teeth there, and that kinda stinks! So when I had my own kids, I would keep their teeth inside their tooth fairy box after each dental appointment with their dentist in Bloomington. So they will not be that stinky anymore!

[lacoste shoes]

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[teeth]

I've kept all my kids teeth but then again, I do keep fossils in my house! LOL! I have a bunch of rocks that have fossils in them...really.

[free dental care]

i like this part of the post:""After the Tooth Fairy put a dollar per tooth inside our special Tooth Fairy pillow the other night, the magical gal's "helper" took the teeth for "safe keeping."" is so funny

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ummm, wow! This is a beautiful, no balloons in the basketball hoops, it's ugly but it's free reception here! I didn't know this was possible in our cultural halls! Amazing! Nice pictures, too!

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wearing a necklace for many woman mean to be more feminine and romantic depending the ocation and if you wearing the same time a ribbon so you could look better and awsome.

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I love these earrings. I used to create lots of gem stone earrings, but lost the passion for a while. This image gives me an inspiration to work on a new project.

[dental jewelry]

Yeah. Teeth can be made into jewelry. That's cute. The loss of your tooth remains in your memory because of something nice.

-ja

[ladybugcda]

Toothfairycyberspace is a whimsical yet informative website that is sure to make you smile! Teeth may be ground up into fine fairy dust or made into tooth jewellery, it depends... Recently a tooth can also be saved for stem cells under the right conditions!
Good-bye, gotta fly!
Tooth Fairy Online
www.toothfairycyberspace.com

[Meredith]

Just to follow-up on my previous comment . . . my friend G. (who lives in the Boston area) took an informal poll at curriculum night at her kid's school on this topic. She found a decent number of people who keep their kids' teeth, and several who are appalled at the very idea. In the process, she learned that her husband has kept her own kid's teeth (he usually "helps" the Tooth Fairy so she had no idea he was keeping the pearly whites), even though she thinks that keeping the teeth is disgusting.

[Traci]

Trash the teeth and just write down the memory that goes along with each tooth. That's what my mom did. She has the day, the time and the how's.

[Ginny]

I have kept the first tooth each of my boys has lost and discarded the rest. Based on my experiences between my nieces and my sons, boys seem to be way more interested in an old tooth than the girls, so if you have boys you may want to factor that into your tooth retention decision! My eldest is much more sentimental about the items from his babyhood I have kept. My youngest thinks like the wind and while it is cool to see that first tooth, it is not any kind of mother/son bonding symbol for him. BTW: They are in my jewel box in little tooth fairy boxes (the teeth, not the boys!!).

[Lorri]

I kept my boys' teeth. They think it's disgusting, but they aren't on display or anything, just in one of those little jam sampler jars you get at a hotel. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. If nothing else, they'll serve as DNA in the unfortunate event we should need it. I know, how macabre!
However, I flushed the umbilical cords to the horror of my "old italian" family friend...she said I should have burnt them, now they could be damned to hell. Yes, people have all sorts of crazy notions about such things. BUT, my oldest son and his wife kept their girls' umbilical cords...I agree, yuck!

[Robin P]

http://roughdraft.typepad.com/dotmoms/2004/04/the_tooth_fairy.html

Sorry,the last link didn't work. Hopefully this one will.

[Robin P]

I wrote about this last year. You can read my post here:
http://roughdraft.typepad.com/dotmoms/2004/04/the_tooth_fairy.html

It explains what Lillianna's tooth fairy and Lillianna's friend's tooth fairy does with the teeth they collect. It's cute.

I personally saved many of my baby teeth for years and years until they made me feel queasy. They did look like fossils. Ick.There is nothing that you can do with old baby teeth except give them to the tooth fairy to make stars or castles.

I am waiting for tooth #9 to fall out any day now!

[Meredith]

I just spoke with a close friend of mine who said I was crazy for even entertaining the idea of keeping my kids' baby teeth. "That's disgusting," she said. "Throw! Them! Away!" She then lamented the fact that we've been made to feel as though everything that comes from our children needs to be preserved. (She threw in the notion that some people keep their children's umbilical cord stumps as case-in-point.) So riled up by the whole premise of my question, she vowed to take an informal poll of parents at a first grade curriculum night event at her son's school. She promised to report back with the results.

[Rayne of Terror]

I made my wisdom teeth into earings when they were removed Junior year of HS. Nice conversation starters.

[LeeMarie]

If you've got pictures of her cute little smile that's all you'll need to remember her baby teeth. I don't think you need to keep any of them. (I wouldn't want to see mine, yipes!)

[Tina]

I think I'd probably toss them out (after a brief and appropriate period of mourning). There are too many other precious things to keep. After only 22-months, the boxes of unorganized "baby things I can't part with" are starting to stack up.

[Christina]

You know, if you can do it, trash them. If you're like me, though, it's just too hard to do. I have enough mommy guilt without throwing away their teeth. However, I also have a jewelry box full of little tissues tied in knots around three kids worth of baby teeth...so, I suppose I should follow my own advice.