Tooth fairy is a supernatural being that takes the baby teeth that children lose. According to tradition, the child must put the lost tooth under his or her pillow. While the child sleeps, the tooth fairy takes the tooth and leaves a small payment, usually a gift or money.
Folklorists (scholars who study folklore) do not know the origins of the tooth fairy story. However, many cultures consider the loss of baby teeth to be a rite of passage. Various rituals and traditions have developed around the event. According to traditions in Europe, baby teeth were usually buried. In the ancient Middle East, baby teeth were thrown into the sky. Still other rituals included tossing baby teeth over a house, salting them, swallowing them, or burning them. Another tradition calls for feeding the teeth to an animal such as a mouse. One folk tale from France and Spain during the 1600’s features a “tooth mouse.” This mouse hides under a pillow and knocks out the teeth of an evil king. The mouse does this as a service to a good queen. Modern folklorists agree that the ritual disposal of a child’s baby teeth developed to prevent witches from using the teeth for magic against the child. But scholars do not know if any of these rituals relate directly to the tooth fairy character.
In the United States, the author Esther Watkins Arnold published a play about the tooth fairy in 1927. In 1949, the American author Lee Rogow had a story published called “The Tooth Fairy.” The work was the first children’s story written about this supernatural creature. The modern tradition of placing a child’s baby teeth under a pillow for the tooth fairy became widespread by the 1950’s.
