Even the Tooth Fairy is feeling the pinch with the cost-of-living crisis, survey shows

Payments are down 10 per cent in Mansfield in the last five years but some children still get as much as £20 a tooth, according to the survey. The average payment from the Tooth Fairy in the town is £1.15 per tooth - down from £1.28 five years ago, the same figure as the Nottinghamshire average.

The survey found that in affluent parts of Nottinghamshire,s children are getting £5, £10 or even £20 notes under pillows instead of the more traditional coins.

Just under one in 10 children, (9 per cent, get £10 per tooth, amounting to £200 for a full set of all 20 baby teeth.

The results come from a new survey of 5,000 parents by Dental Phobia, a website set up to help the millions in the UK who fear going to the dentist.

Dental Phobia set up panels throughout the UK including Nottinghamshire to find out how much average Tooth Fairy payments were in all the UK’s leading cities and counties.

It found 27 per cent of children get a £1 coin for each lost tooth, 25 per cent get a £2 coin, and 14 per cent get less than £1 – typically 50p.

A further 12 per cent get £5, 9 per cent get £10, 3 per cent get between £10 and £20 and 2 per cent get more than £20.

Only 8 per cent of children never receive a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Nine out of 10 parents, 92 per cent, said their children under five believed in the Tooth Fairy – the same figure as for Santa Claus.

More than a third of parents, 36 per cent, admitted their children spent their Tooth Fairy money on sweets.

A further 31 per cent spent it on toys, with savings, 21 per cent, books, 7 per cent, and clothes, 5 per cent, the other most popular answers.

Dentist Rhona Eskander, a world leader in dental care, said: “The Tooth Fairy is feeling the pinch in Mansfield like the rest of us.

“Payments are down by 10 per cent over the last five years, but encouragingly the Tooth Fairy is still coming out almost every time a child in Nottinghamshire loses a tooth. It is just that they are leaving a little less money.

“As dentists, we find parents and children who are most excited by the Tooth Fairy and make sure it visits with each lost tooth also take dental care most seriously, too.

“Tooth Fairy children brush their teeth most regularly with little parental pressure and suffer the least tooth decay.

“The Tooth Fairy makes caring for your teeth a positive part of childhood development and it can reduce the fear of the dentist for many children.”

Dr Eskander, a consultant with Dental Phobia, said most children have a full set of 20 milk or baby teeth by the age of three and start losing them by the age of five or six. They tend to fall out in the same order they came, with the front centre lower teeth going first.

It takes six or more years to grow a full set of 28 adult teeth – 32 if you include wisdom teeth which arrive right at the back of the mouth at about the age of 20.

Dental Phobia has a free guide to overcoming dental fear and has a national database of specially trained dental phobia certified professionals so patients can find an expert where they live.

Dental Phobia also has a five-minute test on its website so a patient can discover quickly if they are dental phobic.

It has helped more than 100,000 dental phobic patients since it was started.

Find out how much Tooth Fairy payments where you live by clicking on this interactive map at dentalphobia.co.uk/tooth-fairy-in-england