Even The Tooth Fairy Is Cutting Back

With today's economic climate, in some parts of the country even the Tooth Fairy is being forced to make some cutbacks. A new Visa poll shows many kids are getting smaller returns for their teeth this year than they did in 2010. Last year, each tooth a child lost brought approximately three-dollars. But this year kids are only getting about two-dollars-and-40-cents per tooth. Regionally, kids in the Eastern part of the country are seeing the biggest drop in tooth earnings. While they were averaging three-dollars-and-40-cents per lost tooth in 2010, now they're getting roughly two-dollars-and-ten-cents -- which amounts to a 38-percent pay cut for cutting teeth. The Tooth Fairy's payments are down by 21-percent in the South, from three-dollars-and-30-cents to two-dollars-and-60-cents.

But the Midwestern Tooth Fairy apparently isn't struggling quite as much. Payments are only down an average of ten-cents -- or just three-percent -- from last year's returns of two-dollars-and-90-cents per tooth. And some kids might want to start shipping their teeth out West, where the Tooth Fairy is giving raises. In 2010 children in the Western U.S. received two-dollars-and-70-cents for each tooth, and now they're getting two-dollars-and-80-cents.