Shocking new data reveals sad reality of how much the Tooth Fairy has changed over time
Niamh Spence
Featured Image Credit: Getty stock images
It's a hard life for the Tooth Fairy, and it seems she's been hit by the cost of living crisis too.
The fictional sprite is known for dishing out generous cash prizes in exchange for children's molars and incisors, but over in the US the value of milk teeth appears to have fallen against the dollar.
In fact, this year's findings saw the biggest drop in the fairy's largesse since the survey began in 1998.
And how much kids are finding under their pillow also varies quite a bit between different geographical areas too.
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New data has revealed the Tooth Fairy previously used to be quite generous and give out a neat $5.84 per tooth (£4.50).
The data from the Delta Dental 2025 Original Tooth Fairy Poll® found that now it's a slightly tighter deal with the average tooth getting $5.01, equating to £3.86.
This isn't the first time the Tooth Fairy has had to move with the times and follow what's happening with the economy, but the study has pointed out that during the past year, the S&P 500 saw a 26 percent increase while the average value of a single lost tooth decreased 14 percent - which, for any kids that are down a tooth, hardly seems fair.
It also varies depending on where the Tooth Fairy is in the US, with only the South seeing an increase on money given as it went from $5.51 (£4.24) in 2024 to $5.71 (£4.40).
The West, Northeast and Midwest saw a drop in the money from each tooth, with the Midwest still trailing behind the national average for a second consecutive year at under $4.00 (£3.08) per tooth.
The Tooth Fairy first appeared in a Chicago Tribune article in 1908, but it's thought the idea could have originated much earlier than this with legends and folklore.
The article read: "Many a refractory child will allow a loose tooth to be removed if he knows about the Tooth Fairy.
"If he takes his little tooth and puts it under the pillow when he goes to bed the Tooth Fairy will come in the night and take it away, and in its place will leave some little gift.
"It is a nice plan for mothers to visit the 5-cent counter and lay in a supply of articles to be used on such occasions."
Now the Tooth Fairy is no longer handing out cents and dimes but instead having to stump up dollars for baby teeth, with a child losing 20 teeth during childhood, this means at an average of $4 per tooth they're earning $80 (£61) out of their teeth. For the average of $5.84, it's a neat $116.80 (£89.96) for their molars, incisors and canines.