You Put the Tooth WHERE?

Emery lost another tooth!  When people hear that my children lose teeth, the first question always asked is, “What did the tooth fairy give you?”  I have a confession, I don’t do the whole tooth fairy thing – I think that must have been created by people with only 2 children at most!

Emery

So inevitably the question gets asked, “Then what do you do with your teeth when they fall out?”

One of the children is usually happy to supply the answer: “We put them in our garden beds. They add calcium to the soil.”

At this point, the poser of the question is usually looking at me like I have 8 heads instead of just 8 children.

But what else am I supposed to do with teeth? I can’t just leave them lying around, can I? Can you just imagine the chaos that would create? I can see tooth projectiles all over the place. And I am NOT saving all those teeth. That’s just gross. I once thought about making a tooth mosaic… (not really, I just made that up!)

I think the garden bed is a very logical place for teeth to go. I don’t know if they’ll actually add calcium to the soil or not, but it sounds good!

And really, what I do with baby teeth is better than what Grandma does with them.

We were in Florida one time when Brett lost a tooth just before breakfast. Grandma put it in a cereal bowl. When Jim and I got up, Brett ran to show us her missing tooth. But the tooth was nowhere to be found!

Grandma had made oatmeal and did the unthinkable: She fed the tooth to one of my children. The children were all horrified. Jim and I were just glad we hadn’t eaten any oatmeal!

So, doesn’t putting baby teeth in the garden beds sound much more reasonable now?

PJ

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58 thoughts on “You Put the Tooth WHERE?

  1. In the garden? Very interesting Mrs. Jonas! What will you think of next? I’m glad my grandma doesn’t feed me oatmeal!

  2. I save all four of my kids teeth in separate empty medicine bottles until they are raised. I figure if I ever needed their DNA god forbid, i have them in my safe.

  3. That’s a great idea! I have no idea if it’s true about the calcium but it sure sounds reasonable.

    • I don’t know if it’s true either, but it sure beats dealing with the “tooh fairy”. PJ

  4. I think the garden bed is an excellent idea. Just thinkin bout one of your kids eatin/swollowin someones tooth is gross and scary. Your family rocks!!! Love yall, God bless 🙂

  5. I never saved any of my Kid’s Teeth but after reading the post below about the DNA thing, and about the Prescription Bottle thing I am almost sorry that I didn’t.

    • I don’t save them either. We actually did (and have) the police identification kit for your children in case they are ever abducted. You do their fingerprints and if I remember correctly, swab their cheek or something. It’s been years. You can get them for free. I think we got ours at the state fair years ago. PJ

      • They usually have a booth at the fair every year for the police to do the identification for you. It is a great thing to do and it is free.

  6. So cute and funny! I personally have never understood the purpose of “tooth fairy money” anyway 🙂

  7. Mine aren’t old enough, but I guess I better get to thinking on what I am going to do with their baby teeth! lol.

  8. Oh my goodness! She really fed them the tooth?! That’s insane. I still have some of my teeth in little teeth holders somewhere but I agree it’s icky to keep them. I’m thinking I’ll probably just throw mine away. I would not want my dog digging up those teeth and making my neighbors think I’m a serial killer! Haha

    • I know, we still can’t believe she did it. Yeah, old teeth are kinda gross. At least the DNA would show you weren’t a serial killer. LOL PJ

  9. I like this idea of putting them in the garden. I have been wondering what to do with my children’s teeth now that we are at that age. 🙂

  10. I knew there was reason I did not eat oatmeal. Putting them in the garden is great idea, my mother saved a few of ours and it still grosses me out.

  11. Your kiddos aren’t the only one’s to swallow a loose tooth (though that is quite a story)… I did once, too, just while eating and didn’t know it… and my son lost one of his in a swimming pool.

  12. If there can be tooth fairies, why not tooth gardens!?! I think the garden is the perfect solution!

    • I read a children’s book once where they planted pizza and meatball trees… just sayin’ LOL
      PJ

  13. We don’t do tooth fairy either. I like idea of putting them in the garden. I may do that this spring.

  14. That is gross! I think the ethiopian custom of throwing the tooth on the roof of the house is a fun one.

  15. My mom used to throw my teeth and my brothers teeth on the roof when we were kids. I still remember that.

  16. Love this story among the many! I just came across a tooth in a box of pictures. Threw it away and wondered why we kept it. If you think about it would be like keeping cut finger nails. Yuck! I like the idea of throwing them in the soil! If the kids want to see the old tooth they can go weed the garden and dig up treasures. Sounds like an adventure!

  17. I agree with you PJ. It’s gross! We just moved into our new house and it was very dirty. I was cleaning the master bathroom, which took 2 1/2 hours, and in the medicine cabinet was about 10-15 teeth!!! She had saved them from her 3 boys! I was so disgusted, I had to stop myself from gagging! So gross!!!

    • Oh – that is really gross. It’s bad enough when it is your own children – but somebody else’s. That’s enough to almost make me gag! PJ

  18. I think the garden is best. When my sisters kids were small (5 & 7) they were having the same conversation. The younger one asked the older one what the tooth fairy does with all the teeth and the older one answered ” she plants them in the ground and grows a new kid!!” Priceless!!!

  19. Sounds pretty cool to me…but I’m a grandma, so I don’t know if that counts. Maybe they will grow into a new set of teeth and become their “dentures” one day. Hey, it makes as much sense as Cathy Riihl said about growing new kids. LOL Love the blogs. Had never followed one until yours–and your family is so much fun. I look forward to them. Will be ordering more “stuff” soon. I’ve already got my husband (tea tree soap–he has really dry, flaky skin due to diabetes–first time he used it, his head was SMOOTH–he’s bald!), daughter-in-law and granddaughter (both purity) hooked. Waiting for my daughter to try it on herself and my other granddaughter. If that jewelweed works, I may give one to my sis-in-law who is highly sensitive to poison ivy.

    • I’m so glad you’re enjoying everything – and the blog too! That makes me very happy. 🙂
      PJ

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