Dear World,
Apparently orthodontic assistants are experts on the whims and isms of the tooth fairy. At least, that is what the young sister of one of my patients thought today. She asked me if she left an elephant's tooth under her pillow, would the tooth fairy leave her a pony? I told her that the best person to ask would be the tooth fairy and maybe she should write the tooth fairy a letter to find out.
Now of course the curiosity of my patient got me curious. What is the largest animal tooth? What is the tusk of an elephant worth? Would the tooth fairy leave something other than a dollar under a pillow in exchange for a tooth?
I was raised by parents that did not believe in out-sourcing the raising of their children. We did not have a Nanny to raise us. We were not handed over to the government for our educational needs. Santa did not teach us the meaning of Christmas. And the tooth fairy was not needed to dispose of our lost baby teeth. (While my parents did not out-source the raising of their children, my mother did make an exception when we were old enough to drive. She felt our car was ill-equipped when it came to that extra brake pedal on the passenger side. After a bit of research, it turns out to be cheaper to send your child through drivers ed. than to install an extra break pedal in your car.)
Seeing as the tooth fairy's services were not needed at our house, these questions the patient raised were ones I didn't have the answer to. So where was I to turn? The place I always turn to with questions of this sort: Google.
Question #1: What is the largest animal tooth?
If you guessed elephant, you would be right! (I actually guessed the Narwhal.) While I was not surprised to learn that the tusk actually is a tooth, I was surprised to learn that tusks are not always the canine teeth I assumed them to be. While this certainly is the case with walrus tusks, it is not the case with elephant tusks. Elephant tusks are actually modified incisors, and not canines. (On a human, the incisors are those front four teeth, and the canines are the pointy ones next to them.)
Question #2: What is the tusk of an elephant worth?
I found multiple answers to this question! One site stated $1500 a kilo (2.20462 pounds) while another site stated ivory is worth about $95 a pound.
Question #3: Would the tooth fairy leave something other than a dollar under a pillow in exchange for a tooth?
The answer is yes! While most of the time the tooth fairy will leave money under children's pillows, she is not unknown to leave other items in exchange for the teeth. A friend of mine received a very nice pocket knife in exchange for one of his baby teeth.
My curiosity being settled on these matters, I worked back to my patient's sister's original question. If she left an elephant's tooth under her pillow, would the tooth fairy leave her a pony? As it turns out, the tooth fairy leaves the gift with the person (or animal) who lost the tooth. So if the elephant lost it's tooth and the young girl put it under her own pillow, the tooth fairy would leave the token with the elephant. The reverse is also true, if the girl lost a tooth and the elephant put it under it's pillow, the girl would be the one to receive the gift.
Now I want to know, if she had the money to go out and buy an elephant's tooth, why didn't she just buy the pony instead?
I hope this post has been both entertaining and educational.
Until next time,
SingingGem
P.S. - Below are some links to some websites I found interesting.
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