# Do you know the whereabouts of your baby teeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230 "2010-09-27T15:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/21 "2010-09-28T02:45:41Z")
Apparently they’re kicking around in a drawer somewhere with all of my brothers’ baby teeth as well. My mom said that when she started collecting them it didn’t occur to her that she wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/22 "2010-09-28T03:36:50Z")
I don’t believe I’ve even thought about my baby teeth for the past 50 years. It’s barely possible my mother has one or more in a box somewhere, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/23 "2010-09-28T03:54:50Z")
There’s at least one in my mother’s jewelry box. I’ve got one of my wisdom teeth in my medicine cabinet somewhere. I remember watching one of them crime shows, and they used a saved baby tooth for the dna match on a kidnapped kid. I can’t think of them anymore without thinking, DNA match for the unidentified body. ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/24 "2010-09-28T06:04:39Z")
Well, I know one is somewhere in the old landfill (long since closed) in the town where I grew up. It was the one I threw away myself after testing a theory: NOT telling Mom about losing it, and finding myself with no new shiny coinage the next morning. As for the rest of them, I don’t think they were kept after the tooth/quarter exchange happened. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/25 "2010-09-28T11:36:35Z")
I don’t think my parents kept mine, either. I’d leave the tooth under the pillow, get the quarter or 50 cents and not worry about what happened to them. As far as I was concerned, the tooth fairy probably did with them what Lucy told Linus she did with them. Sold them to a billiard ball factory. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/26 "2010-09-28T12:18:24Z")
Funny this is here, I was going to ask about baby teeth. I am 43 and still have one in my mouth that is only slightly darker than my adult teeth. Apparently the replacement tooth can be seen in the roof of my mouth on x-ray. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/27 "2010-09-28T12:18:54Z")
In the city dump. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/28 "2010-09-28T13:04:11Z")
I have someone’s 20 year old baby teeth in a jewelry box wrapped in a tissue. The last time I looked, they had all crumbled! Dried out? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/29 "2010-09-28T13:14:15Z")
None of mine were kept, nor any of my wife’s, but my older daughter has all of hers in a decorative box. My younger daughter hasn’t lost any yet, but I guess we will keep hers as well. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/30 "2010-09-28T14:09:12Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > The other one I swallowed. It probably made a bid for freedom via the sanitation system, but I guess there’s an outside chance that it’s still lurking somewhere in my belly (very, very, very outside… I don’t think digestive acids are good for teeth). Or it could be lurking somewhere in your anus. Gives new meaning to the phrase “anal cavity.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/31 "2010-09-28T18:02:51Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > The other one I swallowed. It probably made a bid for freedom via the sanitation system, but I guess there’s an outside chance that it’s still lurking somewhere in my belly (very, very, very outside… I don’t think digestive acids are good for teeth). My GrandFather and his brothers once got it in to their heads that anything swallowed which could not be digested would fall into the appendix and eventually make one sick. So anytime someone bit their fingernails, or swallowed a watermelon seed, they would all yell together “Ap-pen-dectomy!” I heard them again clear as day when I read this. Thanks for the memory. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/32 "2010-09-28T18:24:57Z")
gross ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/33 "2010-09-28T19:00:27Z")
Filed next to the hall of toenail clippings, just across from the warehouse of jarred excrement. You were correct. It’s perfectly reasonable to toss them, and you can’t be expected to psychically detect others’ sentimentalities. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/34 "2010-09-28T19:08:09Z")
I found mine in Mom’s sewing box, next to the tooth fairy’s cache of silver dollars. Later we had a house fire, so now they’re probably in a landfill somewhere with a bunch of charred fabrics and drywall dust. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/35 "2010-09-28T19:44:07Z")
My mother recently handed me a sack of my teeth, which she’d found while cleaning out her basement. I have no idea what to do with them. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/36 "2010-09-29T02:14:48Z")
Just for those of you who think we’re crazy: There is in fact an industry around making special little boxes to keep baby teeth in. [http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb\_sb\_ss\_c\_1\_11?url=search-alias%3Dbaby-products&field-keywords=first+tooth+box&x=0&y=0&sprefix=first+tooth](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Dbaby-products&field-keywords=first+tooth+box&x=0&y=0&sprefix=first+tooth) I’m not saying the it’s the greatest use we can make of our industrial prowess, just saying that the desire to keep a baby’s tooth(eeth) is not entirely unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![banjoDavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@banjoDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjoDavid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/37 "2010-09-29T02:22:45Z")
I’m kind of ashamed to say I DO know where my baby teeth are! My mother died 9 years ago, and I ended up with a pill bottle that has my baby teeth. It’s in a drawer in my bedroom bureau. I think I’ll go look at them. Thanks for the silly reminder. David ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/38 "2010-09-29T02:29:03Z")
Several of mine went to a research project conducted by Washington University here in St. Louis. You taped the tooth to a postcard, filled out some relevant details, slipped it in an envelope, and mailed it in. They sent you back a button that said ‘I gave my tooth to science’. When I was a kid, this was quite the cool thing to do locally and was worth giving up getting tooth fairy money for. Apparently, some of the teeth collected are still around and being used for studies… [TOOTH STUDY](http://www.radiation.org/spotlight/091021_STLOUISPOSTDISPATCH.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/39 "2010-09-29T02:29:39Z")
I recently inheirited my mother’s box of baby teeth. No idea which teeth belong to which child, however. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230/40 "2010-09-29T03:16:31Z")
My mom has a bunch of them in a jewelry box at her house. My adult teeth on the other hand…I have 25.5 teeth in my mouth, another 2.5 in a jar, and my 4 wisdom teeth were dropped in a biohazard box after they were removed, to my dismay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-whereabouts-of-your-baby-teeth/555230.md?page=3)