How much the tooth fairy is paying in Preston as cost of living crisis bites

The average payment from the Tooth Fairy in the city is £1.30 per tooth - down from £1.44 five years ago. It matches the average figure for the whole of Lancashire.

The survey found that in affluent parts of Lancashire children are getting £5, £10 or even £20 notes under pillows instead of the more traditional coins. Just under one in ten 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 Lancashire to find out how much average Tooth Fairy payments were in all the UK’s leading cities and counties.

It found that 27 per cent of children get a £1 coin for each lost two, 25 per cent get a £2 coin, and 14 per cent get less than £1 - most typically 50p. A further 12 per cent get £5, nine per cent get £10, three per cent get between £10 and £20 and two per cent get more than £20. Only eight per cent of kids never receive a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Nine out of ten 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 that 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 Preston like the rest of us. Payments are down by 10% over the last five years but encouragingly the Tooth Fairy is still coming out almost every time a child in Lancashire loses a tooth. It is just that they are leaving a little less money. 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 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 around the age of 20.

Findings are from a 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

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