Payments from the Tooth Fairy are down 10 per cent as children lose out due to the cost of living crisis, according to a survey of 5,000 parents by Dental Phobia.

Dental Phobia set up panels throughout the UK to find out how much average Tooth Fairy payments were in all the UK’s leading cities and counties.

The average payment from the Tooth Fairy is £1.90 per tooth - down from £2.10 five years ago.

London has the highest payments - at an average of £2.30 a tooth, rising to a peak of a £5 average in the most generous area - the royal borough of Kensington in west London.

Tooth Fairy payments are lowest in Newcastle and the north-east - averaging just 90p.

The survey found that in affluent areas children are receiving £5, £10 and even £20 notes under their children's pillows instead of the more traditional coins.

Just under one in 10 children (nine per cent) get £10 per tooth - amounting to £200 for a full set of all 20 baby teeth.

Dental Phobia found that 27 per cent of children get a £1 coin for each lost tooth, 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 (seven per cent) and clothes (five per cent) the other most popular answers.

Rhona Eskander, the principal dentist at Chelsea Dental Clinic, said, "The Tooth Fairy is feeling the pinch like the rest of us.

“Payments are down by 10 per cent over the last five years, but encouragingly the Tooth Fairy is still coming out almost every time a child loses a tooth. It is just that they are leaving a little less money.

"As dentists, we find that parents and children who are most excited by the Tooth Fairy and make sure that it visits with each lost tooth also take dental care most seriously, too. Tooth Fairy children brush their teeth most regularly with little parental pressure and suffer the least tooth decay.

“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.”

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

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