National Tooth Fairy Day is February 28, 2015. Are you ready for the real story? Do you want the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth?
Here ’tis:
The Tooth Fairy is alive and well, gathering those baby teeth to… build a castle? No, no… to make jewelry, that’s it! Or, maybe she grinds them into fairy dust.
While we don’t know exactly what becomes of those deciduous canines, molars, and incisors, we do know that the elusive and magical fairy visits children’s rooms at night to exchange their lost teeth for a special prize.
She’s been at it for hundreds of years, according to American legend, which is sprinkled with European folklore. Medieval Europeans buried the lost baby teeth. If a witch got a hold of one, big trouble was bound to occur! Perhaps, this is why we “bury” the teeth under the pillow.
The Vikings upped the ante and paid their children for the lost teeth… after all, they had magical powers. (The teeth, not the Vikings.) Then, along came the Tooth Mouse, who scampered in and out of the houses in Spanish-speaking countries, taking the teeth with him. Eventually, this all became the legend of the Tooth Fairy, our favorite pixie princess of the pearly whites.
She puts a smile on all of our faces, making room for those big, permanent teeth.
~Specializing in Smiles~
