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Clearly the Tooth Fairy is a disturbed individual. Think about it. Why would a fairy want loose teeth? Even more bizarre, why would she pay good money for them? There are no answers here, only questions. However, we were able to track down a few theories about how the legend began. The Straight Dope tackled this topic back in 2004. According to their crack staff, "The tooth fairy as we now know her didn't make an appearance until the early 1900s." Her popularity may have hit the mainstream in 1949 when a popular children's story by Lee Rogow was published. So did Ms. Rogow come up with the idea of a fairy paying kids for their teeth? Maybe, maybe not. As the Straight Dope (and
other sources) explain, history is full of rituals involving baby teeth. For example, some cultures believed in throwing the tooth over a roof. Others believed in feeding the tooth to an animal, often a mouse. In fact, there's a French fairy tale in which a fairy changes into a mouse to help defeat an evil king. "The mouse hides under a pillow to taunt the king, and punishes him by knocking out all his teeth." At least now the fairy waits for the teeth to fall out naturally before she collects.
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