While many American kids years ago would have been thrilled to receive a quarter for their first tooth from the Tooth Fairy, a toddler’s tooth fetches anything from $5 to a massive $13.25 in New York.
C’mon, this is New York we’re talking here, so one would expect the price to be more than other states .
According to a recent survey carried out by oral-healthcare company Sunstar Gum, parents across America are digging deeper than ever before to give their children good money when they lose their teeth.
While the price state-to-state varies greatly, even the cheapest teeth go for way more than a quarter these days.
One mother complained to the New York Daily News , “This is New York City. So in other parts of the country, people give $2 or $5, but here, it’s double and even triple that.”
The survey was carried out among 1,000 families from across five cities, New York City, New York; Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Dallas/Houston, Texas.
In L.A., toddler’s teeth go for, on average, $9.69, while in Chicago it’s more like $5.85, and in Dallas/Houston, the average tooth price is $5.28.
According to the American Dental Association, most kids have a full set of 20 baby teeth by the time they are three-years-old, so the first three years can be costly for parents, if you do the math.
A Yahoo!-Facebook survey on the issue of tooth fairy inflation revealed that parents felt the price for teeth today is way too high. One Colorado mom for example posted, “$13??? $13!!! Not here!! We leave $5 and I cringe at that.”
However, another recent poll, carried out by Delta Dental, found that the Tooth Fairy left $225 million under kid’s pillows nationwide last year, according to CNBC.
Here is a list of Tooth Fairy prices, as per the Sunstar Gum survey.
- New York, New York: $13.25
- Los Angeles, California: $9.69
- Chicago, Illinois: $5.85
- Dallas/Houston, Texas: $5.28
- Boston, Massachusetts: $5.02
