“The tooth fairy collects baby teeth placed under a pillow.”

In North America and several Western countries, the predominant custom is for a child to place the exfoliated primary tooth under the pillow at bedtime. A mythical figure known as the ‘tooth fairy’ is said to visit during the night, collecting the tooth and leaving a coin or other small token. In contrast, in many cultures in Asia, Africa, and parts of Europe, children throw the tooth onto a roof or to the sun, or bury it, with no fairy figure involved.

A tooth fairy is a mythical figure who is said to take a child's baby tooth after it falls out and has been placed under a pillow, leaving money in its place.

In many countries, children put a lost tooth under their pillow, and the tooth fairy replaces it with money or a small gift while they sleep. The custom is especially associated with North America, but similar traditions exist in other cultures.

Today, in North America and other Western-influenced societies, the most common story is that when a child loses a baby tooth, the child puts the tooth under the pillow before going to bed. During the night, the tooth fairy comes, takes the tooth, and leaves money or a small present. Although there are parallels to tooth fairy customs and stories in other cultures, there doesn’t appear to be a direct precursor to the tooth fairy in European folklore.

According to tradition, when a child loses a baby tooth, his parents suggest that he place his tooth under his pillow before going to bed, to encourage the little mouse to come and take it away, leaving a gift or a coin in its place. In general, the child tries not to fall asleep in the hope of catching the little mouse, as he does on Christmas Eve waiting for Father Christmas.

According to this tradition, the little rodent collects the baby teeth lost by children. For this, they must leave them under their pillows. In exchange, the little mouse leaves a small coin or a gift in its place.

The Tooth Fairy folklore began in early Europe when children buried their teeth in the garden so a new tooth would grow in its place. As the cities grew, the traditions have changed and teeth began to get ‘buried’ under the pillow. This is how the modern legend of the Tooth Fairy was born and is wide-spread through many English speaking countries like Australia, England, Canada and United States.

We all know the tale. When a child loses a baby tooth, it should be carefully placed under their pillow before they go to sleep. Sometime during the night, the elusive tooth fairy will appear and exchange the tooth for a shiny gold coin (usually a £1 coin!).

Folklorist Rosemary Wells, who researched tooth traditions extensively in the late 20th century, documented that the specific practice of a fairy collecting baby teeth from under a child’s pillow in exchange for money is a U.S.-centered tradition that crystallized in the early 1900s and spread through mid‑century popular culture. Earlier European practices involved burying, burning, or offering teeth to animals or deities; the under‑pillow visitation by a tooth‑collecting fairy does not appear in medieval or early modern records.

The Tooth Fairy is not only a myth but a legend. The tradition passes from generations, as parents tell their kids to leave their baby tooth under the pillow. Then, at night a Tooth Fairy will leave money or other treats in exchange, easing the fear of teeth removal in kids.

In the United States and several other Western countries, children place their lost baby tooth under their pillow before they go to sleep. According to the legend, the tooth fairy will come at night to collect the tooth and leave behind coins or a small gift. Other cultures have different customs for lost teeth, such as throwing them on the roof or burying them.

As with many American traditions, the tooth fairy has roots in European folklore. Instead of burying our teeth in the ground, we "bury" our teeth under our pillow! It is said that our modern conception of the tooth fairy came about in the early 1900s.

So, why does the tooth fairy leave money under the pillow? The idea of exchanging a tooth for coins originated in Scandinavia. ... While the idea of exchanging a tooth for coins quickly spread throughout the rest of Europe, a fierce, horn-helmeted Viking is far cry from the image of a fairy collecting teeth.

The fairy flies at night into the room of a child who has lost a baby tooth. If the fairy finds the baby tooth under the pillow, she takes it and leaves in its place a small gift; in the past, it was probably a five-cent coin. As soon as the first of the 20 baby teeth has fallen out, the little mouse sets off.

Somehow, this tradition has wound up in households around the world, but we do not seem to recognize where the Tooth Fairy’s story began, and surprisingly enough, it is only the Western world that practices the baby-tooth-for-money tradition. Around the world, many other cultures have their own version of the Tooth Fairy, and with that, their own traditions. In Asia, when children lose their teeth, instead of placing it under their pillows at night, they throw them.

The little mouse comes during the night after the sandman. The next morning, when he wakes up, the child finds a coin in place of his fallen tooth. This tradition is an initiation rite that symbolizes leaving early childhood. It is no coincidence that the little mouse brings a coin to the child: it is often the first money he receives and will be useful for his entry into the world of grown-ups.

In France, when a child loses a baby tooth, the parents place the tooth under the pillow and exchange it for a small coin. In children's imagination, it is the little mouse who has come to pick up the tooth.

Legend has it that Europeans in the Middle Ages believed a witch could curse someone by using their teeth, so it was important to dispose of baby teeth. People often burned or buried their children’s teeth to protect them from witchcraft. The practice of leaving teeth under a pillow for a fairy to collect is a much more recent development and not part of these earlier traditions.

Few childhood rites of passage are as magical (and profitable) as losing a tooth... next thing you know, there’s a shiny coin or crisp dollar bill waiting under the pillow, courtesy of none other than the Tooth Fairy. By the 17th century, French and English literature began to mention stories about small fairies who left gifts for good deeds... one of the earliest fairy figures was La Bonne Petite Souris, a French fairy-tale mouse who helped a good queen defeat an evil king by hiding under his pillow—leaving behind quite the precedent for future under-pillow visitors!

They believed witches could use them for magic, so they hid the teeth under pillows or buried them to keep children safe. ... The modern tooth fairy first appeared in the United States in the early 1900s. A play called The Tooth Fairy was written in 1927, and the idea grew into the character who takes teeth from under pillows and leaves money.

The little mouse comes during the night after the sandman. The next morning, when he wakes up, he finds a coin in place of his fallen tooth. This tradition is an initiation rite which symbolizes the end of early childhood. An older belief held that when the fallen tooth was eaten by an animal, the new tooth would take on the characteristics of the animal's teeth.

In the modern American tradition, children place a recently lost baby tooth under their pillow before going to sleep. During the night, the Tooth Fairy is said to visit, take the tooth, and leave behind a small sum of money or another token. In reality, of course, it is the parents who secretly remove the tooth and leave the payment.

In the modern American version of the legend, kids put their baby teeth under their pillow at night. While they’re asleep, the tooth fairy comes into the room, takes the tooth, and leaves some money behind. Folklorists note there isn’t hard evidence directly connecting older European tooth-disposal customs to the present-day tooth fairy story.