# The tooth fairy aftermath **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457 "2002-06-17T03:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/1 "2002-06-17T03:36:47Z")
Lamb #1 presented us with his first milk tooth to come out yesterday. He was very impressed with himself. The incisor was placed in cute pewter cylinder he was given as a christening present and yes, the Tooth Fairy found and took it last night leaving fair payment. Now the question is; what does the Tooth Fairy’s financier i.e. myself do with these milk teeth? (after all we’ll end up with about 60 of them over the next five years) Throw them out? Keep them in a jar and present them back some day? Keep it as some macabre collection? I presume my parents threw mine out. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/2 "2002-06-17T03:48:25Z")
heck, I collected by own teeth. Had an old aspirin bottle or something that I kept them in. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/3 "2002-06-17T03:52:27Z")
My parents flushed them. If you do choose to keep it, keep it for yourselves, not to gift to your kid years later. I think most people would be a little freaked at receiving their old teeth. They aren’t the most attractive things, and they lack the ‘cool’ factor of a removed organ. In short they’re boring and odd. More importantly, how much did the lamblet score for the tooth, and what did he say about it the next morning ? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/4 "2002-06-17T03:57:03Z")
If he grows up to be whatever the equivalent of a punk rocker is in 15 or so years, they’ll make a dandy necklace. ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/5 "2002-06-17T04:00:12Z")
What does the toothfairy pay these days? In my day it was 10 or 20 cents. Felt like a forune back in those days. My parents chucked my old teeth out. ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/6 "2002-06-17T04:01:22Z")
That would be a for **t** une. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/7 "2002-06-17T04:05:59Z")
Carry one in your pocket at all times. When you leave your beer on the bar to go to the toilet, drop the tooth in so that no one drinks it. ---
**Author:** ![Neptune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@Neptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptune)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/8 "2002-06-17T04:21:09Z")
I vote for macabre collection. If he grows up to be famous, you can sell them on eBay to finance your retirement. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/9 "2002-06-17T04:22:40Z")
I remember once opening a drawer at home when I was a kid and finding several teeth inside. When I asked my Dad about them he said they were our baby teeth. They weren’t marked in any way as far as I could tell, but IIRC he was able to tell me which was whose. I have no idea what ever happened to them. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/10 "2002-06-17T04:29:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > They aren’t the most attractive things, and they lack the ‘cool’ factor of a removed organ. In short they’re boring and odd. Well, one could say that I’m short, boring and odd myself. As to attractive, well words fail me. So just chuckin’ them might create a dangerous precedent. 😉 > [@](#): > > More importantly, how much did the lamblet score for the tooth, and what did he say about it the next morning ? He scored $5 and thought he’d been diddled because it wasn’t enough to buy a Transformer. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/11 "2002-06-17T04:34:55Z")
$5??? The other parents are SOOOO going to hate you. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Fisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Ms.Fisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Fisk)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/12 "2002-06-17T04:48:23Z")
I received my baby teeth as a gift from my parents after I graduated high school. I had no use for them so I threw them out. But if I had thought about selling them, perhaps to a 15 year old punk rocker… ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/13 "2002-06-17T05:12:04Z")
I still have a zip-lock bag full of baby teeth (some fell out and were Tooth Fairied; _13_ were extractions). Maybe I could file them down and make some ivory keys for a dinky little piano. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/14 "2002-06-17T08:00:30Z")
And here I thought my Mom was weird for still having a paper bag full of my hair… I’m glad she didn’t keep teeth, ick. And we only got a quarter from the tooth fairy. But there were six of us kids so I guess she was on a tight budget. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/15 "2002-06-17T11:11:24Z")
I blame inflation. Although going from 20 cents to $5 in 18 or so years does seem somewhat excessive… ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/16 "2002-06-17T11:57:36Z")
I think we gave our Perfect Child[sup]TM[/sup] a buck a tooth. Two funny tooth stories: One night, hubby went in to retrieve the tooth and leave the cash, and under her pillow he found a note that read “Look on the window” and on the window sill was another note “Here is the tooth” - he saved both notes with that tooth. A few years later, daughter came out and told us she knew there was no Tooth Fairy because she gave us the “Ultimate Test” (her words) - she lost a tooth and didn’t tell us, so when she woke up, the tooth was still under her pillow. We pointed out that she blew her chance for more money - she hadn’t figured on that… ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/17 "2002-06-17T13:31:17Z")
Five bucks? Geez, I know it was the 70s, but I only ever scored 20c out of the ol TF. I think the teeth would be useful for shoving up your nose, then sneezing violently and showing off your handkerchief’s new dental contents. “Aaah, happens all the time”, you’ll say. ---
**Author:** ![starkyld](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@starkyld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starkyld)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/18 "2002-06-17T13:32:56Z")
my parents saved mine. on the night that i came out to them (i was 22), they gave me my teeth. i never understood that correlation. _“mom, dad, i’m queer.” “here, have your baby teeth.”_ i was living in atlanta, working full time and taking a full load of classes when i had my wisdom teeth extracted. i didn’t have anyone to help me through the recovery period and it was really a quite unpleasant time altogether. the one happy memory of that week was receiving a card in the mail from my tooth fairy. her name was thimsley and she told me how nice it was to finally be able to contact me directly, even though she was sad that i’d no longer be needing her services. she told me that she’d miss me and that, although she looked forward to serving generations of other children, she knew i’d always be one of her favourites. (and yes, my tooth fairy mailed me money in that final card.) ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/19 "2002-06-17T13:51:39Z")
A few months ago little milliAmp had a tooth fall out. It wasn’t his first so he knew the routine of putting it under his pillow before bed time. I didn’t have any cash on me so I left the SO a note about the tooth and leaving some money, she was working late that night and wasn’t going to be in until after midnight, and went to bed. Next morning I’m awakened by little milliAmp jumping on my chest excited at the fact that the tooth fairy left him a twenty dollar bill in exchange for his tooth. It seems the fact that it was dark, coupled with the fact that she was tired led her to believe that the twenty was a one dollar bill. Didn’t have the heart to switch the money but I know it is going to set a bad precedent. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457/20 "2002-06-17T15:14:20Z")
My brother used our collection of baby teeth in a science fair project when he was in middle school. The experiment focused on how various liquids promoted tooth decay. Obviously an ample supply of teeth which were not currently in use was helpful. IIRC he discovered that nutrasweet slightly inhibited tooth decay as compared to plain water. I think he got a good grade. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tooth-fairy-aftermath/114457.md?page=2)