What do you do with your children's baby teeth?

[Nakia]

Or maybe I should ask what the tooth fairy does with them? ;)

 

Just wondering...

Edited December 4, 2010 by Nakia

[Jean in Newcastle]

I said "keep them forever" but I should have said "other" because I never get my mitts on them. It is my children who keep them forever. They have little boxes with cotton in them to keep their teeth nice and safe.:001_smile:

[kalanamak]

I have mine hidden under the liner-paper of a drawer.....because I keep thinking we'll need them for science. Perhaps soaking them in various things. (I've heard Coke really rots them.)

 

filed under "you know you're a homeschooler when...."

[ElizabethB]

Other: save for a bit when the child is attached to them. Eventually, they get lost, I have thrown away a few but I have no idea where all the rest are! (And they are spread who knows where in several different houses in different states.) My daughter saved a few of hers in a box for a while, but those vanished, too.

 

I am thinking they got vacuumed up somewhere along the line, but I really have no idea.

[bluemongoose]

voted other: my kids still have all their teeth in their heads:lol:.

 

I dont know what I will decide to do later. I might get rid of them since they share the same gene pool as my DH who thought is was a great idea to show them to me when I went to visit his parents with him when we were dating. He was so proud to show me all his baby teeth AND his wisdom teeth in a box WITH the dried blood still on them:001_huh:. I thought maybe I could help out the future dates of my children by not having this scenario repeated.

 

P.S. the teeth now live in the box in our basement. Yep, still have em.:tongue_smilie:

[mazakaal]

I voted 'other' because we don't do the tooth fairy. Dc show us their teeth and they get a pound. Then they can do whatever they want with their teeth. They usually try to keep them, but lose them pretty quickly. I think dd found a little box to keep hers in, so she's probably still got most of them, but I think the boys have all lost theirs.

[Pippen]

I kept one to put in their boxes of baby things.

 

My oldest saved most of his and then one day when needed money, he tried to pawn them all off on the tooth fairy.

[Nakia]

We don't really "do" the tooth fairy either, just like we don't "do" Santa. My kids know it's not real, but we like to pretend. We got these for the girls, and they love them because they get a pearl for every tooth they lose. But now I have all these little cute/yucky teeth in a box, and I don't know what to do with them. I'm thinking...trash. :D

[TheReader]

We don't really "do" the tooth fairy either, just like we don't "do" Santa. My kids know it's not real, but we like to pretend. We got these for the girls, and they love them because they get a pearl for every tooth they lose. But now I have all these little cute/yucky teeth in a box, and I don't know what to do with them. I'm thinking...trash. :D

 

That is a neat way to do the tooth fairy w/o actually doing the tooth fairy (hope that makes sense, LOL)

 

I have the teeth in a little box, too, and keep thinking "should I just toss them....???"

 

I also thought, "Oh! We have teeth to dissect!!" when we studied teeth recently as part of a unit on human anatomy. But then one of my boys still believes in the tooth fairy, and I didn't really want him to find out the truth by those means. So, I scrapped that idea.

 

The little box I have takes up virtually no room, can't be used for much of anything else, so I've just kept them and probably will for a while yet. At least until they are all done losing teeth, and then....who knows.

[Bonnie in VA]

I don't throw them away in the trash; I throw them into the woods around our house. I don't know why I started doing that, except that I didn't want to end up with four boxes of baby teeth!

[Peela]

Other, because I save them for ages then when I am cleaning up one day I come across them and decide to ditch them.

[keptwoman]

My children have to write a note to the tooth fairy. The note in it's envelope with the tooth gets chucked in a box. Not because of the tooth, but because of the note. One day when they are all adults, I'll hand them the envelopes and they can decide.

[Onceuponatime]

I let my children decide what to do with them. They usually end up in the trash when I find one forgotten somewhere. Some have special boxes for theirs.

[NanceXToo]

I said "keep them forever" but I should have said "other" because I never get my mitts on them. It is my children who keep them forever. They have little boxes with cotton in them to keep their teeth nice and safe.:001_smile:

 

And I said "Other" because my kids couldn't care less and don't even wonder what happens to them, if it was just up to ME, I'd throw them away- they're TEETH for crying out loud! However, it's my HUSBAND who insists we keep them nice and safe forever and ever and so HE plays tooth fairy, HE collects the teeth, and HE puts them somewhere...I don't know where because I don't ask, don't wonder, don't care lol.

[Joker]

I keep the first lost one in their baby book and the rest get tossed.

[1bassoon]

I have a pile of baby teeth, all jumbled up, in my jewelry box. What's up with that? I can't throw them away, but I don't even know whose are whose for crying out loud!!! :glare:

[ereks mom]

I have a pile of baby teeth, all jumbled up, in my jewelry box. What's up with that? I can't throw them away, but I don't even know whose are whose for crying out loud!!! :glare:

 

Me too!

[1bassoon]

Me too!

 

I"ll throw away yours if you'll throw away mine! ;)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I voted other because I keep the first one to fall out, then chuck the rest.

[kewb]

We use them in science experiments. What happens to the tooth in colored soda, orange juice, water, clear soda, apple juice, and so on.

[Veritaserum]

I chuck 'em all. (I'm not very sentimental about things.)

[melik]

I dropped my oldest daughters 1st one down the heat vent by accident! I laughed she cried! :tongue_smilie:

 

Meli

[elegantlion]

Oh, I'm loving the science experiment idea. I think I have some of ds's left. I started keeping them because it was his job to get the trash and I knew he'd find a tooth in there. He kind of always knew about the tooth fairy, but it was a fun game and I didn't want to ruin it.

 

I think I have some in a baggy in my dresser.

[Dawn in OH]

I have mine hidden under the liner-paper of a drawer.....because I keep thinking we'll need them for science. Perhaps soaking them in various things. (I've heard Coke really rots them.)

 

filed under "you know you're a homeschooler when...."

 

I was going to do that experiment with the kids! Then my husband said to me, "How are you going to explain where you got the teeth?". We are a Tooth Fairy believing household.

 

My husband has been saving the teeth in envelopes, labeled with the child's name, the date, and which tooth it contains. I think that's a bit over the top. He tends to be a bit more sentimental than I am.

[Word Nerd]

We don't really "do" the tooth fairy either, just like we don't "do" Santa. My kids know it's not real, but we like to pretend. We got these for the girls, and they love them because they get a pearl for every tooth they lose. But now I have all these little cute/yucky teeth in a box, and I don't know what to do with them. I'm thinking...trash. :D

 

Pitch 'em!

[Stacia]

We never did the tooth fairy (dd seemed to find the idea scary/creepy when she was young). Dd used to keep her teeth for a bit, but after I asked if it was ok to toss them, she agreed. Ds has been the same. We've tossed all of them.

 

If you can't think of other options for teeth, you & your kids need to check out the book Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World (our library carries it). :001_smile: Cute & interesting book.

[Farrar]

I keep the first lost one in their baby book and the rest get tossed.

:iagree: Exactly. Though we haven't gotten past the first one... But we have another loose tooth. :)

[Starr]

A very friendly tooth fairy trades them for $1.00. :D . Everyone was happy here.

[Susan in KY]

Don't throw them away: donate them to help train indigenous dentists!

[JennyD]

I might get rid of them since they share the same gene pool as my DH who thought is was a great idea to show them to me when I went to visit his parents with him when we were dating. He was so proud to show me all his baby teeth AND his wisdom teeth in a box WITH the dried blood still on them:001_huh:. I thought maybe I could help out the future dates of my children by not having this scenario repeated.

 

 

:lol:

 

My oldest has lost two teeth so far. I'm afraid to say that it did not occur to me to keep them. I threw one away and apparently he accidentally swallowed the other one, to his considerable chagrin.

 

I'm liking the science experiment idea, though.

[anneofalamo]

I am so happy there are others holding on to the nasty things.

I must say, I thought at first to keep them seperated, but they started losing them so fast and furious, twins and one 11 month difference and older brothers molars all at the same time...the teeth are all in a pretty box, all jumbled together. Disgusting little things. I don't know which tooth belongs to who??

I can't throw them away. I just can't, and I throw away everything!

[Pretty in Pink]

I flush 'em! :w00t:

[myfunnybunch]

Throw them away.

 

Those little tiny teeth just give me the heebie-jeebies. *shudder*

 

Cat

[secular_mom]

I lost them, LOL, so I voted other.

[elise1mds]

I voted "other." I have them for now, but when they lose the last baby tooth, I will let them decide what to do with them. I suspect DS will want to perform experiments on them. I have no idea about DD yet.

[AHASRADA]

I have little flat plastic clear jars, like the ones that are filled with lip gloss that you put on with a brush, with a clear screw-on top. I have one for each child in my jewelry box, and I just add their teeth to their jar as they are lost.

 

I have lost a few over the years, because they fell out away from home, etc., but I do my best to keep them.

 

They don't take up any space, and just seemed like one of those things you are supposed to keep ;).

[MamaT]

And I said "Other" because my kids couldn't care less and don't even wonder what happens to them, if it was just up to ME, I'd throw them away- they're TEETH for crying out loud! However, it's my HUSBAND who insists we keep them nice and safe forever and ever and so HE plays tooth fairy, HE collects the teeth, and HE puts them somewhere...I don't know where because I don't ask, don't wonder, don't care lol.

 

This sounds like our house. My dh keeps them all. If it were up to me, I would toss them.

[justamouse]

My mother still has my baby teeth.

 

I'm such a thrower outer that I want to toss them, but I do have a few.

 

Maybe I'll have a necklace made. :D

[Nakia]

Thanks for all the replies. I got those little things out this evening, and for the life of me I don't get why I keep them. Yet, I could not throw them away. I'm a softie...

[PhunandFonics]

My dad recently asked me what I wanted him to do with my baby teeth. I couldn't believe that he still had them. This is a man that is a complete neat freak and hardly an ounce of sentimentality in his body. "Dad I'm 40, I think it's safe if you throw them away." He was shocked that I was so callous! LOL!! I guess after hanging on to them for 30+ years he was expecting something a little more grand?

[Pretty in Pink]

My dad recently asked me what I wanted him to do with my baby teeth. I couldn't believe that he still had them. This is a man that is a complete neat freak and hardly an ounce of sentimentality in his body. "Dad I'm 40, I think it's safe if you throw them away." He was shocked that I was so callous! LOL!!

 

Awww!

[LizzyBee]

When we cleaned out dh's grandmother's house, we found lots of teeth in the attic. :ack2: I don't want to do that to anyone else, so I throw my kids' teeth away!

[Tenaj]

This topic has me laughing because I just cleaned out my husband's sock drawer today and found many, many sandwich bags each with one little tooth in them. Some of them are labeled with who and when the tooth belonged to, but most of them are just sandwich bags with a tooth! What am I supposed to do with them!!!! I wanted to toss but he just isn't ready to let them go. I'm worried because we have eight kids and so far only five have lost any teeth so we've got a LOT of teeth left to go through! I think I'm going to have to get a crate or something for this baby teeth collection.

 

By the way, I voted "toss them" in the poll but I'm not the tooth fairy at our house, thus the collection continues . . .

[Laurie4b]

I have a pile of baby teeth, all jumbled up, in my jewelry box. What's up with that? I can't throw them away, but I don't even know whose are whose for crying out loud!!! :glare:

 

Me three! ;)

[Bokons]

I only keep the first one, and throw out the rest. Although my ds8 has two permananent teeth in the top front. The first one was a bit deformed, and then we noticed another one bulging above it. The dentist took and x-ray and saw another tooth there, so we got the deformed one pulled out, and I've kept that one as well.

[sbgrace]

I would throw them away but my husband (yes, husband) is in the keep them forever camp. I left it to him. He puts them in baggies labeled with names and dates. I figured most people keep them and I'm an unsentimental ogre. It's kind of refreshing to see a sizable number also don't feel the need to keep the teeth.

[IsabelC]

If I can find them all, I'd like to wait until the child has lost all the deciduous teeth and then dispose of them in some kind of ceremony - plant them, throw them into the ocean, whatever seems good to that child for a farewell to childhood ritual.