Roanoke, VA (Feb. 26, 2016) - Amidst tumultuous times on Wall Street, Tooth Fairy giving has taken a nosedive. According to the Original Tooth Fairy Poll sponsored by Delta Dental, the Tooth Fairy’s cash gifts have dipped to $3.91, down 10.32% compared to $4.36 in 2014.
The Original Tooth Fairy Poll has typically served as a good indicator of the economy’s overall direction, tracking with the movement of Standard & Poor’s 500 index (S&P 500) for 12 of the past 13 years. This year, however, the Tooth Fairy must have been using predictive analytics as the market continues to take losses beyond the 8.2% drop during the time the survey was conducted compared to 2014.
In 2015, the Tooth Fairy gave a total of $256 million for lost teeth, up just .6% from the prior year in spite of 5% more parents saying she left money for their children this year. Cash gifts for a child’s first lost tooth, typically higher than average, are also down by 9.23%.
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“The Tooth Fairy can be a fun way to calm kids’ nerves about losing teeth and also has the ability to teach young people valuable lessons about finances,” said George A. Levicki, DDS, president & CEO, Delta Dental of Virginia. “Introducing the Tooth Fairy can be a great way to start conversations about the importance of good oral health habits, which is so important to do even before the loss of that first tooth.”
Delta Dental found the Tooth Fairy visits 86% of homes with children in the nation; in 93% of those homes she gives money. As it turns out, the Tooth Fairy may also factor in the cost of living, varying the rate per region: Northeasterners ($5.27), Westerners ($4.25), Southerners ($3.63), and Midwesterners ($3.11).
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The Tooth Fairy can be absent-minded too, forgetting to pick up a tooth in more than a third (35%) of homes at least once. And region matters - the Tooth Fairy is more likely to forget a tooth pick up in the Midwest (46%) than in the West (36%), South (34%) or Northeast (23%).
Some other findings from the survey:
76% of the time, moms are the parents enlisted to help the Tooth Fairy, up from 61% a year ago.
The Tooth Fairy is most likely to visit homes between 10 pm and midnight (68% of the time).
Oral health related gifts from the Tooth Fairy are on the rise: toothbrushes (40%, up from 33%), toothpaste (33%, up from 27%) and floss (27%, up from 14%).
“In addition to money, the Tooth Fairy can leave gifts that help support good oral health from the youngest of ages,” added Levicki.
About the Survey: The Children’s Tooth Fairy Survey was conducted between December 16th, 2015 and January 14th, 2016 among a nationally representative sample of 1,307 parents of children ages 6-12. The margin of error is +/- 2.7 percent.
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About Delta Dental Plans Association
The nonprofit Delta Dental Plans Association, based in Oak Brook, Ill., is the national association of Delta Dental member companies, which collectively make up the nation’s leading dental benefits provider, with enrollment of 68 million Americans. For more information, visit our website at deltadental.com.
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