Santa and his elves aren’t the only ones giving gifts to children to reward good behavior throughout the year. The Tooth Fairy is another children’s favorite as she bestows gifts in exchange for their lost teeth year-round. Considering they can lose up to 20 baby teeth, children can get to know the Tooth Fairy very well in your journey to help them develop dental awareness!

Motivating your children to brush and floss their teeth takes daily effort, and you can enlist not only our dentist and dental team to help but the Tooth Fairy as well to make your job easier. Even though your child won’t start losing their chompers until five or six, you can talk about the Tooth Fairy much earlier. We encourage using the idea of the Tooth Fairy to help your child learn about their oral health and develop good oral hygiene habits along the way. You can enlist this character’s help in reinforcing good oral health practices by letting them know she places a higher premium on a healthy tooth over a decaying one. In fact, she uses the nice teeth for her special projects!

Reinforce Good Oral Health Habits With These Gifts

And while an older child, say eight or nine, appreciates a monetary gift in exchange for their tooth, a younger child may be more responsive with a special treat:

– Children’s book or movie about Tooth Fairy adventures or an adventure to the dentist’s office
– A small toy that is dental health-related, like a tooth-shaped pencil box or plushie
– Tooth-friendly snack packet or gum
– Light up or musical toothbrush or even one with their favorite superhero
– Cute kid’s floss dispenser
– Fun-flavored toothpaste

Just remember, your gift for the first lost tooth will set your child’s expectations for the ones to come, so you might want to plan ahead as to how you want to encourage and reward your child.

Tooth Fairy as a Dental Health Teaching Tool

Encourage your child to learn and practice good oral health habits by having the Tooth Fairy leave personalized notes that reinforce healthy habits. She can encourage brushing twice every day, flossing once a day, eating more vegetables, and going on regular trips to our dentist and Tooth Fairy “assistants.”

Along with oral health tips, Tooth Fairy notes can reinforce good habits like how well your child is doing with their oral hygiene practices, or that they need to brush a little longer or focus on the back teeth more. Notes can be printed using online sources with cute artwork or handwritten and sprinkled with glittery fairy dust. Use Tooth Fairy notes to encourage your child’s good habits and to motivate them to keep up their good work. Reinforcing good behavior is an excellent motivational tool and can even be used it to set new oral health goals!

If your child is old enough, you can enlist the help of a mobile app to create enthusiasm, such as Tiny Dentist or Brusheez Tooth Brushing Timer. Thinking that the tooth fairy might be watching can help your child get excited about spending time caring for their chompers every day. To start the new year with your child well on their way to good oral health, be sure to include our dental team in your Tooth Fairy game and get them excited about their healthy smile!