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Tooth fairy

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The tooth fairy is a character in modern Western culture said to give children a small amount of money (or sometimes a gift) in exchange for a deciduous tooth when it comes out of a child's mouth.

The Tooth Fairy is an example of folklore mythology sometimes presented to children as fact. Other prominent examples are Santa Claus, the Sandman, Bogeyman and the Easter Bunny. The realization or discovery that such stories are make-believe is considered a part of the child's growing up. Such realizations can also cause significant emotional pain in some children due to feelings of betrayal, while other children regard it as a small matter or are proud of themselves for having unmasked the truth. Many adults remember clearly for their whole lives when and how they discovered the truth.

Many families participate in the roles of this myth even when the children are also aware of the fictionality of the supposed supernatural entity, as a form of play or tradition.

This tradition is present in several western cultures under different names, for example in Spanish-speaking countries, this character is called Ratoncito Pérez, a little mouse with a common surname. In Italy also the tooth fairy (fatina) is often substituted by a small mouse (topino). In Ireland the tooth fairy is sometimes known as annabogle, although this is a more recent tradition.

Tooth traditions in different parts of the world have been collected together in the excellent children's book Throw your tooth on the roof: tooth traditions from around the world written by Selby Beeler and illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Houghton Mifflin, 1998).

Tooth Fairy Ritual

An eight-year old's gift to the Tooth Fairy

Typically, upon losing a tooth the child places the tooth under his or her pillow before going to sleep. In the morning the child finds a coin, small banknote, or a present in the place of the tooth. In reality, this is usually done by the child's parents.

A less-common variant is for the child to place the tooth in a glass of water beside the bed. Again, in the morning, the tooth is replaced with a coin. This variant is becoming more common, as it is far easier for parents to find a tooth in a glass of water beside the bed without waking the child than it is to search under the pillow.

The primary useful purpose of the tooth-fairy myth is probably to give children a small reward and something to look forward to when they lose a tooth, a process which they might otherwise find worrisome. It also gives children a reason to give up a part of themselves that they may have grown attached to.

Some believe that other useful purposes include giving children a sense of faith in things unseen, believing in the incorporeal, and helping them understand the difference between the real and the imaginary.

Origins

The Tooth Fairy calls upon the European folklore of House Elves or Brownies who will often perform useful tasks or exchange valuable treasures for things humans view as mundane or useless.

Cultural historians say that superstition has always surrounded teeth and these valuable tokens have been used to ward off witches and demons in the past. Vikings were even supposed to give children a "tooth fee" for using children's teeth.

Likewise, if discarded body parts such as teeth, nail clippings or hair fell into hostile hands, it was believed that they could become the focus of sympathetic magic. In Guernsey, toenail clippings and teeth were traditionally burnt to forestall this.

In a variety of cultures, the shedding of the first baby tooth became a kind of ritual. This rite of passage has been documented in numerous ways. Many of these ceremonies included verbal incantations and wishes, along with actions. Variations on this custom were most likely passed along through oral communication.

The most commonly accepted belief by academics is the fairy's development from the tooth mouse, depicted in an 18th century French language fairy tale. In "La Bonne Petite Souris," a mouse changes into a fairy to help a good Queen defeat an evil King by hiding under his pillow to torment him and knocking out all his teeth. Also, in Europe, baby teeth used to be fed to rodents and other animals in the hopes of getting sharper, more rodent-like, teeth in the future [citation needed].

This combination of ancient international traditions has evolved into one that is distinct in the United States, United Kingdom, and other Anglophonic cultures. Folklorist Tad Tuleja suggests three factors that have turned this folk belief into a national custom: postwar affluence, a child-directed family culture, and media encouragement.

Pioneering scholar Rosemary Wells, a former professor at the Northwestern University Dental School, found archival evidence that supports the origin of different tooth fairies in the United States around 1900, but the first written reference to one specific symbol in American literature did not appear until the 1949 book, "The Tooth Fairy" by Lee Rothgow. Considered the world's tooth fairy expert, Dr. Wells even created the Tooth Fairy Museum in 1993 in her hometown of Deerfield, Illinois. But according to the local library, it evaporated after her death when her husband liquidated all her memorabilia.

The "Ratoncito Pérez" character was created around 1894 by the priest Luis Coloma (1851-1915), a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language since 1908. The Crown asked Coloma to write a tale for the 8 years old Alfonso XIII, as one of his teeth had fallen out. The child in the story was called Bubi, that is how Alfonso was knicknamed by his mother the Queen Doña María Cristina.

In some Asian countries, such as Japan and Korea, 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 mice's teeth go on growing for their whole life. The similarity to Western traditions about mice and teeth is most likely a coincidence.

  • In Tim Allen's movies Santa Clause 2 and 3, Art LaFleur plays the part of the Tooth Fairy. He is part of a council of fictional folk characters headed by Mother Nature. He helps Santa Claus return to the North Pole at one point, when Santa's magic runs out. He also wanted to change his name to the "Molinator" which he considers to be more masculine than being called the Tooth Fairy.
  • The TV movie Toothless stars Kirstie Alley as a deceased dentist who is condemned to serve as the Tooth Fairy or go to Hell.
  • The Terry Pratchett novel Hogfather features the Tooth Fairy and the numerous people to whom she has subcontracted the business of collecting teeth. The novel tells of how the Tooth Fairy was originally the first Bogeyman, until she grew fond of children and decided to keep them safe, taking their teeth so no-one could control them by means of sympathetic magic.
  • The The Tooth Fairy is a radio show consisting of hundreds of 2.5-minute episodes. It is still in syndication.
  • In the animated series Futurama, Professor Farnsworth mentions that the tooth fairy was once thought to be fictional "but now he's head of the FBI".
  • In the animated series Family Guy, in the episode Prick Up Your Ears, the tooth fairy appears to be a deadbeat man that collects teeth and stores them in his apartment for his sexual gratification.
  • The Hellboy story Tasty Teeth, written by Guillermo Del Toro/Matthew Robbins and illustrated by Mike Mignola, tells of a race of fairies who would suck the marrow from the bones of children. It was Pope Honorius who put a stop to this grisly business by striking a deal with the King of the Fairies stating that the “tooth fairies” could have every tooth a child lost as long as that child was given a silver coin to exchange.

Related concepts:

  • In "Tusk Wizard", an episode of the animated series Camp Lazlo, an elephant named the Tusk Wizard collects fallen tusks from elephants and leaves money under the elephants' pillows. He rides a flying tuskbrush (a pun of toothbrush).

And others using the nickname "Tooth Fairy":

  • In the movie Darkness Falls, the Tooth Fairy was the name given to a woman burned to death on the belief that she killed two children. She comes back from the dead as a ghost who wears a mask to hide her burned face. She only appears in the dark and kills those who have seen her.
  • The novel and film version of Red Dragon feature a serial killer nick-named (much to his chagrin) "The Tooth Fairy" by the tabloid press.
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