This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions I hear from parents and children regarding the Tooth Fairy. I have heard many possibilities, among which are they are reused, they are the bricks for the fairies' castles, they are planted and flowers grow from them, and that they are placed in the night sky as stars.

The first (that they are used in dentures) is just icky to me, so I dismissed that one immediately. I think the answer about using them to build castles is actually the most common, but for some reason it doesn't appeal to me. I like to think of the fairies living in lush green forests with ferns and toad stools and little homes made of twigs and moss. The image of gleaming white buildings made of teeth just doesn't seem right somehow.

In ancient times, parents did actually bury their childrens' teeth to keep them out of the hands of witches who might want to cast spells on the little tikes. So, the idea of planting them as seeds from which beautiful flowers grow is a good one, and one that meshes with the earliest conceptions of the Tooth Fairy. However, whenever I think of teeth being sown, all that comes to mind is Jason and the Argonauts. If you haven't seen the movie with effects by Harryhausen, you should! It's great, but I just can't get over the idea that if the teeth were planted, skeleton warriors rather than flowers might spring up.

The one I like best and the one that I use in the letters I write as the Tooth Fairy, is that the Tooth Fairy transforms each tooth that she collects into a star. The cleaner and healthier the tooth is, the brighter the star it will make, so children will be encouraged to take good care of their teeth. People pay a lot of money to have stars named for themselves, and I think it is a pleasant thought to look up and know that your star is somewhere out there. Of course, pixie dust is made almost entirely of stardust, so the more the better for fairies too.

When asked hard questions such as this one, it is always fun to ask what your children think before answering. Have yours come up with any good theories? I would love to hear them!

For more about the significance of stars, I recommend a wonderful book called, The Little Prince, by Antoine de St. Exupery. It's one of my favorites!