Tooth Fairy Poll: The Tooth Fairy is Staying Busy!

Delta Dental continuously monitors the rate per tooth and total annual amount that the Tooth Fairy pays for lost baby teeth in their Original Tooth Fairy Poll. It was reported that she paid an amazing $255 million for lost teeth in 2014, and this amount rose even more to reach an all-time annual high in 2016!

The most recent Original Tooth Fairy Poll shows a 30-cent increase in the last year for The Tooth Fairy’s average amount given per lost tooth for a total of $4.03 per tooth.

Delta Dental has tracked the Tooth Fairy’s U.S. annual giving trends since 1998. The most recent reports show that the value of a lost tooth is more than triple what it was in 1998 when the value of a single lost tooth was $1.30. This year marks the fourth highest payout per tooth in the history of the survey.

Interestingly, the Original Tooth Fairy Poll has usually mirrored the overall economy in the U.S. and has trended in the same manner as the S&P 500 for 15 of the past 18 years. Last year, The Tooth Fairy paid $3.70 per tooth and this year it’s up to $4.03, which is an increase of almost 9%.

An overview of the average price paid per region in the United States is as follows:

• $4.35 – The Northeast: Leads U.S. regions in highest average monetary gift for a lost tooth, outranking The West, which led the previous two years in a row.
• $4.01 – The South: Tracks most closely to the overall U.S. average.
• $3.97 – The West: Decreased 22 cents, moving from highest regional average last year to third regional average this year.
• $3.71 – The Midwest: Increased 74 cents over last year but remains lower than the national average for the second year in a row.

Schedule an appointment with Sala Family Dentistry today!