Whether you are a child or an adult, chances are the tooth fairy still plays a part in your life! As a child, there was nothing more exciting than losing a tooth, only to find a special surprise of money waiting under their pillow the next morning!
As a adult, if you have children, chances are you have taken on this legendary role of the Tooth Fairy to surprise your children. If you have a niece or nephew, at some point you have probably done your best to keep the legend alive, hiding the true identity of the secret fairy.
You may be wondering where this legend first began. To answer your question, in early Europe, it was a tradition to bury baby teeth that fall out.
The tradition is still very much alive and well in Ireland and Great Britain, where it is common for young children to believe in the Tooth Fairy. When a child's sixth tooth falls out, it is customary for the tooth fairy to slip a gift or money under the child's pillow, but to leave the tooth as a reward for the child growing strong.
Tooth tradition is present in western cultures under different names. A Raton Perez appeared in the tale of the Vain Little Mouse.
The Ratoncito Perez was used by Colgate marketing in Venezuela and Spain. In Italy, the Tooth Fairy, or Fatina, is also often replaced by a small mouse.
In France, this character is called La Petite Souris, or "The Little Mouse." From parts of Lowland Scotland comes a tradition similar to the fairy mouse: a white fairy rat who purchases the teeth with coins.
In some Asian countries, such as India, Korea, and Vietnam, when a child loses a tooth the usual custom is that he or she should throw it onto the roof if it came from the lower jaw, or into the space beneath the floor if it came from the upper jaw. While doing this, the child shouts a request for the tooth to be replaced with the tooth of a mouse.
This tradition is based on the fact that the teeth of mice go on growing for their whole life, a characteristic of all rodents. In Japan, a different variation calls for lost upper teeth to be thrown straight down to the ground and lower teeth straight up into the air; the idea is that incoming teeth will grow in straight.
In parts of India, young children offer their discarded baby tooth to the sun, sometimes wrapped in a tiny rag of cotton turf. The Tooth Fairy is less common in African cultures.
Rosemary Wells, a former professor at the Northwestern University Dental School, found evidence that supports the origin of different tooth fairies in the United States around 1900. Folklorist Tad Tuleja suggests postwar affluence, a child-directed family culture, and media turned the myth into a custom.
The Tooth Fairy, a three-act playlet for children by Esther Watkins Arnold, was published in 1927. On May 28, 1938, MGM released The Little Rascals short entitled, The Awful Tooth, in which the gang agreed to pull their teeth out to make money from the tooth fairy.
A reference in American literature appears in the 1949 book, "The Tooth Fairy" by Lee Rothgow. Dr. Wells created a Tooth Fairy Museum in 1993 in her Deerfield, Illinois museum.
In a March 1961 Peanuts comic strip, the new character Frieda asks if the prices are set by the American Dental Society. The Tooth Fairy has appeared in several children's books, an adult book, and films, and the eponymous radio series.
A somewhat similar practice is found in Guatemala, where worry dolls are told a worry by children and placed under their pillow. During the night the doll is believed to worry so that the child can sleep, and sometimes to actually address or resolve the worry.
As with the tooth fairy, parents may remove the doll at night to reinforce the child's belief in the myth. As you can see there are very different cultural practices all over the world.
Whether you choose to raise your children with this fun myth is completely up to you. However, if you choose not to keep the myth going, just don't spoil the fun for others!
Author Resource:-
Tom Selwick is a former dental assistant, has authored hundreds of articles relating to oral health and has worked for an Scottsdale dentist. He has been a guest dental lecturer for over 15 years.
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