What Does the Tooth Fairy at Your House Do with the Teeth?

Updated on October 31, 2011
M.P. asks from Santa Rosa, CA
24 answers

The "tooth fairy" at my house has been saving the lost teeth collected. I get completely grossed out by teeth and have a complete fear of all things dental so I don't know why I'm saving them. But for some stupid reason I don't have the heart to throw them out. What does the tooth fairy at your house do with them?

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G.T.

answers from Redding on

The tooth fairy at my house saved them in her jewelry box for each kid. Then when the kid had a science project at school we utilized the teeth for the project. Unfortunately it was considered "hazardous waste" and my son didnt get to use the project. We were really disappointed. It was cool because we showed the teeth set in different types of foods and liquids for a period of time and showed the decay process. Boy oh boy, cocacola eats up a tooth FAST.

4 moms found this helpful
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K.N.

answers from Cleveland on

OMG, i was so ready to be the oddball that keeps them. Love that I'm not alone in having a drawer full of teeth in little envelopes with the child and the date. It's kinda creepy though with 5 kids, i'm gonna have a LoT of teeth in that drawer, lol.

3 moms found this helpful

F.H.

answers from Phoenix on

The tooth fairy puts them in my jewlery box in a zip baggie with the kids name and date on it. I have no idea why either... ;o)

3 moms found this helpful

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T.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

My mom saved ours. She still has them. I save my kids. I lost a sister when she was 11. It is kind of neat that my mom has her teeth.

5 moms found this helpful
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S.2.

answers from Raleigh on

I can't believe how many of you keep all the teeth! Funny!

I've kept the 1st for each daughter, after that I have no problem chucking them. My oldest has written notes requesting the tooth fairy leave the tooth behind....TF usually obliges.

But what's the difference....really? Keep just one, keep them all. What the heck are we planning in doing with them. If my mom came along and tried to give me my own baby teeth from 30 years ago I'd be like "what the heck do I want with THOSE??"!

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M.2.

answers from Chicago on

My daughter is yet to lose her first tooth - she's 6-1/2 years old so we're anxiously awaiting that moment - but I will be keeping her teeth! I can't believe I'm typing this but I have kept both of my daughter's dried up empilical (spelling?) cord belly button things so I know I will for sure be keeping all of their teeth =)

3 moms found this helpful

K.L.

answers from Medford on

I saved the ones I was able to save. Some were lost at school, on the bus, and one was swallowed. My daughter fell and knocked out her top front teeth and the trip to the dentist was needed to take them all the way out. They gave them to us in a cute little box that has pictures of teeth on it and says "save me for the tooth fairy".. Whats gross is because she knocked them out so early, they still had the roots so they look gross to me. I saved our sons teeth in a small film container too. The other day, while going thru things in the bathroom packing for our move to a new house, I came across a tiny ring box and opened it. I found his fingernail from when he was 18 months old and tipped over in a wagon and lost a nail. I save it too. And for the life of me, trying so hard to get rid of unnecessary things, I could not bring myself to throw them all away. The kids are 34 and 28 now. I also found the pony tail I cut off my daughter once. It was creepy to see, like a dead rat in a box..lol

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J.P.

answers from Houston on

Very interesting question. I kept them and have had them for over 30
years. Don't know why. I always knew that I could throw them away
any time I got the urge, but it never came. I was a little anal, or a lot, and
kept each one in it's own little zippy with name, date, and which tooth it
was and sometimes the story about how it was lost. Like the one that
was lost when we were out of town. We decided that the tooth fairy
would only come to our house (not to a hotel). I mean this tooth was lost twice: we couldn't find it anywhere. Since our son had a very
good look at it and the excitement had worn off a bit, my brilliant husband carved another tooth from a bar of soap. Son never knew. Of course I
still have that one too. I'm hoping to see more responses with some
funny creative ideas people come up with. My son has a 4 year old, and he will lose a tooth soon. Perfect time to give my son a gag gift, like a
paperweight with teeth. Now, I'm going to go look at the soapy tooth.
Why? Because I can.

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

I'm thinking "necklace" LOL!

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J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

Well my mom saved every last tooth I lost and gave it to me as an adult. I threw them away, gross. I figure I would save my children the bother of throwing them away as adults so they go in the trash.

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P.B.

answers from Austin on

I'm glad you asked (so I won't feel so bad for keeping them). I put all that would fit into a plastic tooth-shaped thingie. Then I started keeping the molars. I don't know what to do with them, so I'm going to ask my daughter, who will probably laugh & say to toss them!

1 mom found this helpful

L.U.

answers from Seattle on

My husband and I were just talking about that the other day since my son lost yet another tooth. I put his tooth in my husband's drawer and put the money under my kid's pillow and he said, "why are you saving it??!!" I don't know! I seriously have no idea why. It's not like I am going to make a necklace out of them or something. They are just all sitting in the drawer.
L.

1 mom found this helpful

J.B.

answers from Houston on

....trash day is tomorrow........... GROSS

1 mom found this helpful
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L.D.

answers from Modesto on

Save them. Your child can decide as an adult whether they still want them or not. I thought it was kind of neat that my mom saved a couple of mine, which I now keep with my baby book. Besides, I believe they are a good source of DNA that, god forbid, could be used for identification purposes if necessary.

1 mom found this helpful

D.H.

answers from New York on

I've spent the last year cleaning out my mother's lifetime collection of stuff (but had to stop as its overwhelmed Dad). I came across my mom's collection of my brothers' and my baby teeth. All together. In one box. Eww! I was going to toss them but my younger brother insisted on taking them. I cannot imagine what he might do with them.

That said, I have been saving my kids teeth. And I don't know what I will be doing with them either. Our parents' habits are sometimes so ingrained that we assume them. Sigh.

1 mom found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

I have saved all of my daughters, now 16.

I have a box of my jewelry,etc that my mom saved for me and it has all of my teeth.

I've even saved our dogs teeth.... Why? I don't know... They are my fur babies.

1 mom found this helpful
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B.

answers from Augusta on

save them and put them in a little box in the hope chest

1 mom found this helpful

⊱.H.

answers from Spokane on

She keeps them.....but I'm not sure why either! :)

1 mom found this helpful
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D..

answers from San Francisco on

I love this question and all the answers you've gotten! Though it's still a few years away, I know I will keep my kids' teeth. When I was a kid I used to write notes to the tooth fairy asking her if I could please keep my teeth. And I still have them!! I don't know why - it even grosses me out a little, but I just can't bring myself to toss them!

I looked up "proper" storage of baby teeth, and didn't find much information on cleaning them. But there are some cute little keepsake tins available for storing kids' baby teeth: http://www.babytoothalbum.com/

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A.C.

answers from Madison on

I throw them away. My daughter had a lot of antibiotics when she was a baby, which seriously harmed her baby teeth (think fluorosis [sp]). They weren't very pretty looking teeth. I didn't have any qualms about throwing them away!

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A.R.

answers from Dallas on

They were put in my jewelry box simply because I didn't want to throw them away (no idea why not) but didn't know what else to do with them.

Funny thing is they came in handy last year when ds was in 3rd grade. He did a science experiment where he soaked teeth in different sodas for a week and then compared the results - so it was a good thing we had 5 extra teeth laying around!

J.P.

answers from Lakeland on

So far I have saved them. Two were swallowed and if the tooth fairy wants them she can go search the sewer, lol. I will probably throw them out, my mother never kept mine.

X.O.

answers from Chicago on

My mom would glue them to a page in our baby books. The page had a picture of the mouth, with a place for each tooth to be placed.

Haha, love the idea of the necklace, Patricia :) So funny!

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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

The "tooth fairy" at my house can't usually find the tooth under the pillow so he/she just leaves the money. lol!

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