Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Saving Baby Teeth

58 replies

ToothFairyOrScary · 20/04/2020 21:16

DD16 was talking about her baby teeth and I have just given her them all back, each wrapped up labeled with the date lost.

She was pleased but has asked if it is normal to save them, and I honestly don't know...

YABU - no not normal at all, what were you thinking of woman!

YANBU - that's a perfectly reasonable and ordinary thing to do, nothing weird to see here!

(Have name changed so if DD sees this won't find my posting history)

OP posts:
Sammy867 · 20/04/2020 22:08

I would keep them. There are stem cells in baby teeth, similar to that in cord blood. Ideally they need to be stored appropriately but who knows what the future holds in terms of advancing technology. If there’s a chance it can be used if my DD has an accident, to regrow neves in teeth that’s have died off or for other things, then I don’t mind storing them in a box I don’t look in

MrsJackRackham · 20/04/2020 22:09

When we were clearing out our mum's house after she died my sister and I found a load of our baby teeth. While it was sweet that she'd kept them we'd no idea whose were whose so they all went in the bin Confused

WhispersOfWickedness · 20/04/2020 22:10

I have kept my dcs', but mostly because I only remember just as I'm going to bed, so just shove them in a little set of drawers I have... and now it would seem a bit weird to throw away a drawer full of teeth ConfusedBlush

PumpkinParent · 20/04/2020 22:12

DS has lost two teeth so far. I have kept no 1. We think he swallowed no 2 so there goes my idea of keeping them all. I also have his umbilical cord clip, his hospital wrist and ankle bands from when he was born and a lock of hair from his first hair cut. It probably is a bit weird keeping all the stuff now I think about it.

feelinguseless78 · 20/04/2020 22:12

Loads of people do it. My mum did it.

I think it's gross and won't be doing it.

Blueswede · 20/04/2020 22:16

My mum kept mine. I’ll keep my children’s. To be honest i find the idea of throwing them away weirder. Can’t imagine when DS is older and finds out I’m the tooth fairy, and then having to explain actually I chucked all his teeth away Shock

Windyatthebeach · 20/04/2020 22:16

Many many dc here. Every drawer, old jewelry box, earring box, memory box etc has the odd tooth in!! Kept lots of tooth fairy letters and santa letters also!!

Izzabellasasperella · 20/04/2020 22:18

I have a couple of my kids baby teeth but I don't know which ones are which.
I have their umbilical clamps with small pieces of cord attached which the dcs were completely grossed out by😊

nailslikeknives · 20/04/2020 22:18

Totally normal! My parents kept mine, I've kept my kids'.

DappledThings · 20/04/2020 22:20

My mum kept ours. She offered them back to me years ago and I said no thank you very much.

My DC haven't lost any yet but I won't be keeping them. DH might, he's more of a keeper of these things. I found their hospital bracelets in his cufflink box the other day. Had no idea he'd kept them.

hairypaws · 20/04/2020 22:21

I kept them too. I even have some of my dog's puppy teeth. No idea where they are now though 🤷‍♀️

succulento · 20/04/2020 22:24

My mum posted mine to me without warning, including the six gnarly adult teeth with roots that I had pulled for braces.

In a jiffy bag. With no note. When I rang her, she said she thought I might want them.

Reader, I didn't.

fallfallfall · 20/04/2020 22:33

crumb2 you made me laugh.
i saved all that i could for 3 children "in case they would ask to see them" or "they could be useful for a science project".
30 YEARS later, looking in the little ring box was really weird. the kids never had any requests to see them and no science project ever came up. i wondered, if i was to die and the police was to detail my room, would they wonder what the hell i was thinking!

steff13 · 20/04/2020 22:39

My mom kept mine, and I have my kids'. I never thought anything of it until I saw a (different) thread on MN.

Lovesabadboy · 20/04/2020 22:42

@Crabbo
I am SO glad that someone else has their puppy's teeth!
I have a couple from our last dog - and she died about 16 years ago!

No surprise, then, that I have still got my girl's baby teeth - now aged 19 and 23!

BreconBeBuggered · 20/04/2020 22:42

I found one lot of baby teeth and a lock of hair amongst my dad's effects. There were three of us, and no indication of which of us they'd belonged to, but as the pfb I suspect they must be mine. I hastily shoved them back in the envelope and put them in the attic to gross out somebody else in the fullness of time.

Yubaba · 20/04/2020 22:43

Nope I binned all my dc teeth, it’s gross to keep them.

DinosApple · 20/04/2020 22:47

My mum kept ours. Me and DB think it'll be a bit like the teeth of the Hydra (from Jason & the Argonauts)...

I've binned my DCs, but I've always been a shit Tooth Fairy. When they both lost about 4 in a week between them I sighed and said couldn't they stop as I was running out of pound coins. 😂🤦‍♀️ Not much back tracking to be had from that.

ilovepixie · 20/04/2020 22:58

I saved my puppies teeth when they fell out!

Mucklowe · 20/04/2020 22:59

That box is so fucking weird. There are slots for lanugo and the umbilical cord. Macabre! 🤮

ToothFairyOrScary · 20/04/2020 23:00

I quite like the necklace but that doll is quite something!

OP posts:
ToothFairyOrScary · 20/04/2020 23:02

Oh the vote seems to have disappeared : (

It was about one-third unreasonable last time I saw it

OP posts:
Tumbledryer1 · 20/04/2020 23:07

I’ve got all the teeth from all my children, except those that were lost when they dropped out. I can’t bear to think of throwing them away as it would be like throwing part of your child away imo. One of my children took part in a study which followed them from birth and interviewed them every 3 yrs. At one point the study asked if parents could send a tooth to be analysed but even then I couldn’t send it away, I’ve kept them all 😳

ButterbuttSquash · 20/04/2020 23:14

My dad kept all mine in an empty pill bottle. I’ll probably keep my kids as well. We are a bit weird, though.

Chinks123 · 20/04/2020 23:30

My mum has mine, I found them in a little box..just tiny little teeth..I’m not sure there is any point. She has never ever sat and looked at them, but she said she felt she was supposed to keep them. I know lots of people keep the cord clamp thing when the stub falls off, but she said that was disgusting.

Dd had to have teeth removed for medical reasons and I signed for them to be donated for research. There was a mix up and the doctor threw them away as the guy came to pick them up, so I was a bit gutted about that. She hasn’t lost any naturally yet, and do you know what I’ll probably keep them Grin

Swipe left for the next trending thread