KIDS are really cashing in on a booming economy – as the Tooth Fairy now leaves up to £20 for missing teeth, figures show.
More than a quarter of all parents have swapped small change for small notes and many children can rake in £400 for a full set of baby teeth.
Around two per cent of parents admit to leaving £20 or more for teeth, while three per cent leave between £10 and £20.
A further nine per cent leave £10 and 12 per cent leave £5.
Parents cite the economic upturn as the main reason for upping pillow payments – the average now stands at £2.10 per tooth, up from £1.50 five years ago.
London and the South East have the highest payments – at an average of £2.50 a tooth.
While the Newcastle Tooth Fairy is the most careful, dishing out just £1 per visit.
Dentist Tariq Idrees, owner of Manchester’s Carisbrook Dental who surveyed 1,000 parents across the UK, said: “I think Tooth Fairy payments are a good indicator of the nation’s general economic health – so it has to be good news that payments are increasing.
“The Tooth Fairy is a much-loved family tradition and a very good one.
“Families who make sure that the Tooth Fairy visits each lost tooth also tend to be the ones who take dental care most seriously.
“They also tend to be the children who brush their teeth most regularly with little parental pressure and suffer the least tooth decay.”
The study also found that 27 per cent of children get a £1 coin for each lost tooth, 25 per cent get a £2 coin and 14% get less than £1 – typically around 50p.
Most parents (36 per cent) admitted their children blew their money on sweets, a further 31 per cent spent it on toys, with savings (21 per cent) books (seven per cent) and clothes (five per cent) the other most popular answers.
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.
1 Sweets 36%
2 Toys 31%
3 They save it 21%
4 Books 7%
5 Clothes 5%