The latest research by finance experts, RIFT, has revealed that UK parents have seen a 99% increase in Tooth Fairy tax, as the current price paid per tooth has climbed by almost £1 from one generation to the next.
Rift commissioned a survey of 6,673 UK parents with a child aged 12 or under to find out just how much a trip from the Tooth Fairy is costing today, versus the money paid per tooth when they were a child.
While the ivory trade is thankfully illegal across the UK when it comes to animals, it seems as though there’s still a roaring trade when it comes to human ivory.
The research found that when today’s parents were children, they received an average of £0.98 per tooth. Fast forward to today and the average child is now securing an average of £1.96 per tooth, an increase of 99% from one generation to the next.
With children losing around 20 baby teeth, that’s a total of almost £40 paid by the Tooth Fairy today.
Strongest price per region
So where’s the best place for children to cash in their teeth in the current climate?
Northern Ireland is the best place in the UK when it comes to the strongest price per tooth secured, with the average tooth now commanding an average price of £2.93.
Scotland is also home to a roaring tooth trade, where the Tooth Fairy pays an average of £2.28 per tooth, followed by the North East at £2.22 per tooth.
The East of England is home to the weakest market at present, where the average tooth goes for just £1.65.
Largest regional increases
Not only is the North East one of the strongest markets for human teeth when it comes to the current price paid, the region has also seen one of the sharpest increases from one generation to the next.
The average price paid per tooth across the North East has climbed by 152% between current children versus the price their parents secured.
The West Midlands has seen the average price paid per tooth increase by 128% from one generation to the next, while the North West (+124%) and London (101%) have also seen an increase of more than 100%.
Bradley Post, MD of RIFT, said, “It’s tough being a parent today, with the increased cost of living meaning we’re already paying through the teeth for everything from our weekly shop to our energy bills.
Unfortunately, the price of losing a tooth has also climbed considerably from one generation to the next, with the average child now pocketing 99% more than we did when we were their age.
The only silver lining to this price hike is that the number of teeth that can be traded to the Tooth Fairy is finite and so it’s a cost that only has to be endured until they hit their teenage years at the latest.”
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