| To Watch online Tooth FAiryvisit | | | | growing for their whole life, a characteristic of all |
| Origins | | | | rodents. In Japan, a different variation calls for lost |
| In early Europe, it was a tradition to bury baby teeth | | | | upper teeth to be thrown straight down to the ground |
| that fell out.[1] This combination of ancient international | | | | and lower teeth straight up into the air; the idea is that |
| traditions has evolved into one that is distinct | | | | incoming teeth will grow in straight.[citation needed] |
| Anglo-Saxon and Latin American cultures among | | | | In parts of India, young children offer their discarded |
| others. | | | | baby tooth to the sun, sometimes wrapped in a tiny |
| Tooth tradition is present in several western cultures | | | | rag of cotton turf[clarification needed]. |
| under different names. For example, in | | | | The Tooth Fairy is less common in African cultures. |
| Spanish-speaking countries, this character is called | | | | Rosemary Wells, a former professor at the |
| Ratoncito Pérez, a little mouse with a common | | | | Northwestern University Dental School, found evidence |
| surname, or just "ratón de los dientes" (tooth mouse). | | | | that supports the origin of different tooth fairies in the |
| The "Ratoncito Pérez" character was created | | | | United States around 1900. Folklorist Tad Tuleja |
| around 1894 by the priest Luis Coloma (1851–1915), | | | | suggests postwar affluence, a child-directed family |
| later a member of the Real Academia Española. | | | | culture, and media turned the myth into a custom. The |
| The Crown asked Coloma to write a tale for the | | | | Tooth Fairy, a three-act playlet for children by Esther |
| eight-year old Alfonso XIII, as one of his teeth had | | | | Watkins Arnold, was published in 1927. On May 28, |
| fallen out. A Ratón Pérez appeared in the tale of | | | | 1938, MGM released The Little Rascals short entitled, |
| the Vain Little Mouse. The Ratoncito Pérez was | | | | The Awful Tooth, in which the gang agreed to pull their |
| used by Colgate marketing in Venezuela[2] and | | | | teeth out to make money from the tooth fairy.[3] A |
| Spain[citation needed]. | | | | reference in American literature appears in the 1949 |
| In Italy also the Tooth Fairy (Fatina) is often replaced | | | | book, "The Tooth Fairy" by Lee Rothgow. Dr. Wells |
| by a small mouse (topino). In France, this character is | | | | created a Tooth Fairy Museum in 1993 in her Deerfield, |
| called La Petite Souris ("The Little Mouse"). From parts | | | | Illinois museum. In a March 1961 Peanuts strip, the new |
| of Lowland Scotland comes a tradition similar to the | | | | character Frieda asks if the prices are set by the |
| fairy mouse: a white fairy rat which purchases the | | | | American Dental Society. The Tooth Fairy has |
| teeth with coins. | | | | appeared in several children's books, an adult book, |
| In some Asian countries, such as India, Korea and | | | | and films, and the eponymous radio series. |
| Vietnam, when a child loses a tooth the usual custom | | | | A somewhat similar practice is found in Guatemala, |
| is that he or she should throw it onto the roof if it | | | | where worry dolls are told a worry by children and |
| came from the lower jaw, or into the space beneath | | | | placed under their pillow. During the night the doll is |
| the floor if it came from the upper jaw. While doing | | | | believed to worry so that the child can sleep, and |
| this, the child shouts a request for the tooth to be | | | | sometimes to actually address or resolve the worry. |
| replaced with the tooth of a mouse. This tradition is | | | | As with the tooth fairy, parents may remove the doll |
| based on the fact that the teeth of mice go on | | | | at night to reinforce the child's belief in the myth. |