Tooth Fairy paying among highest price in nation for NJ teeth

Can we blame this one on Bidenflation too?

National Tooth Fairy Day is Monday, February 28. According to the National Day Calendar, it’s a day to remember the history of the Tooth Fairy and to encourage good dental practices in children.

Did you know the Tooth Fairy started in 1927 from a short play written by Esther Watkins Arnold? It was soon being performed live in public schools like some Army hygiene film would be shown to troops. So what did kids do with their teeth before 1927? Just throw them out?

Now that time has come for my own little boy who is 6 and has already lost several teeth. So naturally, I wondered is a dollar too cheap? I mean, I got I think a quarter. Turns out too cheap indeed.

New Jersey is in the top 10 most well-paying states per tooth by the Tooth Fairy. We are getting paid $5.61 on average.

Wow. I was way off.

We are number 10 most generous in the United States. The No. 1 highest per tooth payout is Delaware at $8.91 per tooth. The state that pays the least is Iowa at $2.30. You’d think it would be Mississippi, right? Curious about states and where they rank? Here’s the list.

Now if you think this whole practice of the Tooth Fairy is a bit strange, try these cultures on for size.

In Mexico, children put their tooth in a box beside their bed and a magic mouse named el Ratón comes for it and leaves money.

In Brazil children throw their teeth outside and recite the following:

Lovely, dear birds, take away this tooth of mine and bring another one to me.

No money and the kid gets rid of their own tooth? Brazilian parents understood the assignment.

In Turkey, parents take the tooth that fell out and bury it in the ground of a place they hope their child will one day be successful. If they want their child to be a lawyer they might bury it outside a courthouse. A doctor, the lawn of a hospital.

In Kyrgyzstan, the tooth is rolled in bread and fed to an animal whose teeth your adult teeth will end up looking like. If you feed it to a mangy dog for example you may unfortunately grow nasty yellow dog teeth. My parents must have fed mine to Steve Buscemi.

In the Philippines, the child hides their tooth in a secret place and makes a wish. If they can remember where they hid that tooth a year later they get a second wish.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now: