The Tooth Fairy’s payout for lost teeth is soaring, posting record gains in 2016 and early 2017.
Payout average
• $4.66 average per tooth this year
• $3.91 average per tooth in 2015
• 19.8 percent increase this year*
* according to poll
2016 payout by region • $4.3 million in South Carolina for 934,895 lost teeth
• West $5.96 per tooth
• Northeast $5.08 per tooth
• South $4.57 per tooth
• Midwest $4.04 per tooth
Did you know?
• Tooth Fairy visits 85 percent of nation’s households with children, and in 89 percent of the homes leave money
• 56 percent of parents say Tooth Fairy neglects to pick up the tooth on first night
How children spend their haul
• 48 percent save the cash
• 48 percent spend the cash
• 1 percent loan the cash out
Dental gifts
• Toothbrush
• Dental floss
• Toothpaste
• About the survey: The Original Tooth Fairy Poll was conducted between Jan. 24-28 among a nationally representative sample of 1,588 parents of children ages 6-12. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percent.