DT News - UK - As much as £10+ a day: British parents pay kids to brush their teeth

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 6 December 2012

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BRENTFORD – More than one in ten parents in the UK pay their children to brush their teeth, new research has found. The study also found that despite a reduction in the standard of living, the money children receive from the tooth fairy has increased significantly.

Eleven per cent of surveyed parents admitted that they pay their children daily to brush their teeth, with a staggering one in five of those (20 per cent) paying their child at least £1 a day. Furthermore, of those who pay their children to brush, 1 in 50 (2 per cent) parents pay their child £10 (€12,31) or more to do so. Dentists recommend brushing for two minutes twice a day—which means that children are earning the equivalent of up to £150 (€185) per hour for brushing their teeth.

According to the research, only 8 per cent of parents stated that they wish they had not started to pay their children for brushing their teeth. However, 7 per cent of parents threaten to withhold money if their child’s teeth are decayed.

Losing milk teeth has also proven to be a profitable business for children. The study found that 70 per cent of parents pay at least £1 per milk tooth for tooth fairy visits. The value of milk teeth has steadily increased in the last 50 years, from an average of 15p in the 1960s to £1.50 today.

The study revealed that parents in Yorkshire are the biggest tooth fairy advocates, with over three-quarters (76 per cent) paying at least £1 per tooth. In comparison, parents in the West Midlands are the most unwilling teeth traders, with about 1 in 20 (6 per cent) refusing to pay their children anything.

The research was conducted among 2,000 UK parents by health care company GlaxoSmithKline.

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