Pediatric Dentist Midland Park

Do you recall the turning point in your childhood when you finally pieced it together that there is no tooth fairy and there probably never was? Remember figuring out that in all likelihood it’s been your parents leaving those dollar bills beneath your pillow the whole time? Was it before or after you lost your final baby tooth?

Depending on how committed the parents were to the whole charade, that realization can either be a defining moment in a child’s life or just business as usual. Either way, enough time has passed for you to hopefully have recovered and coped with the truth. Now, as a mother or father, it’s your turn to pick up where your parents left off.

Have you ever thought about maybe breaking from the tradition? Have you ever pondered what they do in other parts of the world? We did a bit of a research to calm you curiosity. Here are 3 alternative baby tooth traditions from countries other than the United States.

Raton Perez

The tradition, for the most part, is similar to ours in that a mythical being comes to our room while we sleep and kindly exchanges our baby teeth for currency. The only difference is that for the Spanish and for most Latin Americans, it’s not a fairy that comes, but rather, a friendly cartoon mouse instead! Now, we know that the idea of a mouse crawling into your child’s bedroom while he or she sleeps isn’t the most attractive concept at first glance. But, bear in mind that you could easily make the same argument for Mickey Mouse, who no one really seems to have any problem with. Señor Ratón Perez is a friendly cartoon mouse who has nothing but your child’s best interests at heart. In any case, all he or she really cares about is collecting that dollar in the morning.

Slippers

According to our research, South Africans don’t really have a character who comes in to make the exchange. But at its core, they follow the same tradition as do the North and South Americans and Spanish. It’s a simple transaction that takes place in the dead night when the child sleeps, in which a tooth is traded in for money. One difference is that they don’t leave their baby teeth beneath their pillow, but rather, in a slipper either by the door or in the closet. This takes some pressure of you since you’ll have less risk of waking up the kid by lifting his or her pillow up while sleeping.

Roots And Dogs

In Mongolia and a number of other nations in Central Asia, children who lose their teeth will often do one of two things. One option is to bury the tooth in the ground by a tree. The idea here is rather abstract. The belief is that by burying the tooth near a tree, the new tooth will then grow in with roots that are as strong as the tree next to which you buried the baby tooth.

The other option is to bury the tooth in some form of fatty dog food and feed it to your child’s furry best friend. Similarly to the tree tradition, the thinking is that the old and new teeth are connected in some way. And because dogs have strong teeth, if you give it to your dog, your new teeth will be strong like your dog’s teeth are. We recommend that you proceed with caution here though. The last thing you want is your dog choking on your child’s teeth. In our professional opinion, the tree roots tradition seems a bit more attractive.

If your child is losing baby teeth left and right and you think it’s time he or she start to receive pediatric dentist Midland Park services, call Pediatric Dental Associates today at (201) 652-7020.