Spotlight: The Tooth Fairy

February is National Children's Dental Health Month, an observance designed by the American Dental Association to promote the benefits of good oral health in children. The 2026 campaign highlights the importance of preventative care and acknowledges 75 years of community water fluoridation. In 2004, Katie Davis, the author of the children's book "Mabel the Tooth Fairy and How She Got Her Job," established National Tooth Fairy Day on February 28 as a way to use the legends surrounding the Tooth Fairy to promote awareness of children's dental health. The holiday evolved in a unique way. Today National Tooth Fairy Day is celebrated twice each year—on February 28 and August 22—which aligns with the recommended six‑month interval for children's dental checkups. 

The modern Tooth Fairy, a beloved figure for children across the United States, traces her roots to a 1908 "Household Hints" article in the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper suggested that a reluctant child would overcome fear and allow a parent to remove a loose baby tooth if he or she were told to place the tooth under their pillow so that the Tooth Fairy would come overnight and exchange some small gift for the tooth. Esther Watkins Arnold’s 1927 children's play "The Tooth Fairy" helped solidify the character in popular culture. Arnold created a small, mythical elf-like sprite who flew into homes overnight to exchange money for baby teeth. With the contemporaneous rise of children’s books, magazines, and eventually advertising, the idea of a tiny fairy who visited children's homes at night became widely accepted in the United States. 

While the Tooth Fairy is a uniquely American story, European and Latin American folklore recognized a similar tradition as early as the 18th century. These traditions involve rodents, which are known to have strong teeth that continue to grow throughout their lives. In France, a small mouse known as La Bonne Petite Souris is said to sneak into a child’s room to exchange a lost tooth for a coin. In Spain and Latin America, El Raton, "the Tooth Mouse," will exchange a lost tooth for candy, a gift, or a coin. El Raton became firmly established in Hispanic cultural when author Luis Coloma created a story in 1894 for the eight year old King Alfonso XIII of Spain, who had just lost a tooth. In Coloma’s tale, the mouse lived with his family in a cookie box at a confectionery shop in Madrid and traveled through the city’s pipes to reach children’s bedrooms. Interestingly, King Alfonso XIII who inspired the El Raton book, died on February 28, 1941, a date which 63 years later would become National Tooth Fairy Day. Over time, the legend of El Raton spread across Spanish‑speaking countries, where El Raton is still celebrated as the counterpart to the Tooth Fairy. Whether rodent or fairy, the role of the mythical creature remains the same: to comfort children experiencing a loose tooth and to add a sense of magic to childhood.