AIBU to refuse my mother-in-law keeping my daughter's first tooth?

I have just messaged my 25 year old to see how he would feel about being presented with a box of teeth - awaiting update!
Ps very glad that many of you are agreeing with the serial killer vibe!

Wierd!!!!
I find it wierd people keep teeth 🫠🫠🫠 even when you’re mum it’s wierd.

Just say NO.

When MIL needs an explanation ask her whether her own MIL kept the milk teeth of your DH etc.

Dentist usually likes baby teeth to stay until ready, as they keep a spot for new tooth.

In a few years, once Tooth Fairy has left coins, you could offer MIL just one tooth from your child rather than throwing it out - if she is still keen to label and collect a tooth from family children.

I'm not squeamish about it, I just think it's a bit weird.

I remember keeping them as a little child and later throwing them away (probably as a teen).

but many people do keep locks of hair. Baby‘s first haircut etc. That’s quite sweet imo.. So I‘m not sure why I view teeth differently. 🤔😅

Your MiL kept her children’s teeth..she didn’t give them to her MiL . So why should you as mother not keep your own children’s teeth. There’s no logic to her.
I kept the first one of each, but over time/ moving house chucking out, they disappeared…or maybe the tooth fairy really did take them , but then, that first lock of hair would not be gone, too, 😁

She has a nerve..overstepping is putting it mildly and she’d never see my kids again if she tried that on.

Neither of you should be keeping teeth. And it's especially more immature to be competing with each other over them!
As for pulling it out, tell your daughter to tell her NO, and no not open her mouth. That is a dangerous thing to do.

Absolutely. It's just weird

I've got my ds's teeth in a little box,I don't know why,it was the done thing years ago. Teeth fell out when they were good and ready though!

I kept my eldest's teeth. Then I kept my youngest's teeth. Then I also kept teeth from my dogs, so now I have a box of random teeth with no idea who they belong to 😂

Fun fact: I still have some baby teeth - in my mouth, not in a novelty box - and can confirm they do change colour but don't break!

I've got Maryland bridges now for the upper ones but still have a premolar on the bottom. It didn't have a replacement adult tooth so just stayed put, 55 years and counting. I don't think the active shelf life for baby teeth is that long, they're not intended to last, so it will be interesting (ish) to see how long they do last for!

@GalileoFigaro Tell MIL DD's baby teeth are for you to deal with, not her. And toffee more effective than apples for removing wobbly ones...

She absolutely shouldn’t be pulling any teeth out! If it’s not ready your DD gum could be damaged and stop the new tooth growing properly and cause problems in later life!
I don’t have a problem if people want to keep children’s first teeth but MIL has no right to decide she having it!!

Personally I’d let her have it because keeping teeth is weird

Sounds like my thing😆

Keeping teeth is really weird.

When my dd was two my MIL scooped her up and said ‘I’m just going to take her to get her ears pierced’. Why she thought that was going to be OK I will never know.

Love this!

Oh I see - sorry!

We kept all of our children’s teeth when they were left for the tooth fairy. They are all grown adults now who don’t give a fuck and we have a jumbled box of teeth with no idea whose is who. 😆

What to do with them? Seems weird to just chuck them after keeping them as a precious rite of passage all this time! But yep, this thread has made me realise how weird it is.

I don't think anyone is recommending it other than OP's mother in law. It was a thing when I was a child but, given that I have adult grandchildren, I doubt if MiL is anywhere near as old as I am.

I didn't mean squeamish about pulling out a tooth. Some people have expressed squeamishness about seeing the teeth someone has kept.

I’ve kept my DCs teeth 🙈 I have no idea why but I just wasn’t sure what the protocol was and it felt weird chucking them in the bin.

I dare say I’ll chuck them at some point 😂

https://crownhousedentalpractice.co.uk/news/baby-teeth-dont-pull-them-out/

this seems fairly typical of dental advice if you google

Adults used to joke about tying string round the door handle and your tooth to pull it out when I was a child, but never did it. I don’t think it’s squeamishness though, just the tooth will come out when it’s ready and there’s no need to yank it out impatiently unless you are a dentist and there’s some reason it must come out

Regarding pulling out wobbly teeth, this used to be a relatively normal thing when I was a child in the 60s. My parents never did it to me that I can remember but it was definitely a topic of conversation. I remember pushing mine with my tongue and twisting it to get it out myself.

Whether you keep them or not is a personal choice but I don't understand the people who feel sickened by the thought. There are some very squeamish people about.

My stepmother found my milk teeth in a forgotten drawer and tried to give me them. After I turned them down and suggested she threw them away that is exactly what I thought she had done. Until my next chat with her when she told me she’d buried them in my mother’s grave.