“Pop Pop my tooth came out!”

”Mazel Tov!” I shouted back to our granddaughter Catherine, who shared the news on a video call that she had lost her first baby tooth. She’s growing up way too fast.

To emphasize the moment, Catherine wiggled her tongue in the new gap along the bottom row of her front teeth. “I’m going to put it under my pillow tonight for the Tooth Fairy!”

Right up there with Santa and the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy is that marvelous mystical character who delights children because of the gift it leaves. But unlike St. Nick and the Big Bunny who deliver gifts and treats and ask nothing in return, the Tooth Fairy provides a great lesson: Nothing in life is free. There’s a quid-pro-quo here. You leave a tooth. You get money.

After the call, I wondered, “So, what’s the going rate for a tooth these days?”

Here’s another life lesson: Not every tooth is worth the same.  

I don’t know if the Tooth Fairy is going to have to deal with any tariffs, but new findings from the Delta Dental Original Tooth Fairy Poll revealed the average value of a single lost tooth over the past year is $5.01, a drop of 14% from the previous year’s $5.84.

Despite the decline in monetary giving, since the poll’s inception in 1998, the average cash gift left by the Tooth Fairy has increased 285% from $1.30 to $5.01 per tooth.

While a third of parents say the Tooth Fairy spends more on their child’s first tooth, she also is pinching pennies in recognition of this milestone, with an average value dropping 12% from $7.01 to $6.24 over the past year. 

Seems the Tooth Fairy is most generous to kids who live in the South. I’m guessing it’s easier to fly in warm weather. There the value of a lost tooth was $5.71. It was the only region with a year-over-year increase, up from $5.51 in 2024. In the West, the average tooth paid out $5.69 and kids living in the Midwest had the lowest value at $3.46 per tooth.

In our region the Tooth Fairy also cut back, leaving an average of $4.59 under the pillow, a drop of 33% and below the $5.00 per tooth mark for the first time since 2020.

It may have parents rethink their travel plans.

Now a survey by insurer Delta Care Alliance found that the Tooth Fairy is most generous in the state of Delaware, where kids got an average of $8.91 per tooth. A few parents said their child gets $50 per tooth from the Tooth Fairy. Imagine, a child typically loses 20 baby teeth, known as primary teeth. These teeth are gradually replaced by 32 permanent teeth. With an average Tooth Fairy payment of $8.91, children in Delaware could earn up to $178.20 losing their baby teeth. Holy molars!

It’s been a while, but I remember the Tooth Fairy leaving my boys a few coins under the pillow. Mabe a buck.

The survey found that in nearly 20% of the homes she visited, the Tooth Fairy left cash AND gifts for kids.

Delta Dental predicts that at the rate values have increased in the poll’s 25 years, it’s possible that by 2048 the Tooth Fairy could be leaving $30 under the pillow for a single tooth. That’s $600 for a full set of primary teeth.  

With Catherine expected to lose 19 more teeth and now two more grandchildren to follow, considering inflation and the compounded return on bicuspids, I wonder if the Tooth Fairy might consider a payment plan.

Barry Lewis is a longtime journalist and author who lives with his wife Bonnie in the Town of Neversink. He can be reached at      barrylewisscdemocrat@gmail.com.