Telling the Tooth About Dental Lists

Fri, 02/27/2015 - 11:09

Two dental lists of interest have just been posted in healthsprocket.

The list: Most Searched Dental Services - Fair Health Consumer Cost Lookup Tool provides a look at the top searches during 2014 in FAIR Health's online FH Consumer Cost Look-up tool. FAIR Health states they are "a national, independent, nonprofit corporation dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through comprehensive data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health uses its database of billions of billed medical and dental services to power an award-winning free website (fairhealthconsumer.org)."

The #1 searched dental service? Adult cleaning (prophylaxis). Better start flossing those teeth.

Also, Delta Dental Plans conducts the annual Tooth Fairy Poll, surveying what parents leave their children under the pillow for those lost teeth. The list: Findings from 2015 Delta Dental Plans 2015 Tooth Fairy Poll highlights some key Tooth Fairy tidbits.

But this list may not provide the whole tooth about what goes in in Tooth Fairy Land, so here are expanded excerpts provided by Dental Dental in their press release:

Kids are benefiting from the recovering U.S. economy, with the average gift from the Tooth Fairy reaching a new high of $4.36 last year, up from $3.50 in 2013, In 2014, the Tooth Fairy left a staggering $255 million for lost teeth based on Delta Dental estimates.
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The Tooth Fairy visited 81 percent of U.S. homes with children who lost a tooth. The amount of spare cash on hand (44 percent) or the child's age (39 percent) are the most mentioned reasons for how much is left by the Tooth Fairy.

The Tooth Fairy was more generous with first-time tooth losers, leaving more money for the first tooth in 40 percent of homes. On average, the amount given for the first tooth was $5.74, a 27 percent increase from 2013.

The Tooth Fairy was stingiest with kids in the Midwest, leaving just $2.83 per tooth. Kids in the South raked in the dough, receiving $5.16 per tooth. And kids in the West and Northeast didn't fare so bad either, receiving $4.68 and $4.16 respectively.

Kids with younger parents also received more money from the Tooth Fairy. Kids with parents under age 35 received the most ($5.40 per tooth), followed by kids with parents ages 35 to 44 ($4.24 per tooth) and parents ages 45 and older ($2.45 per tooth).

Most kids seem satisfied with their gift. Only 17 percent of parents can recall their child asking the Tooth Fairy for more money. And fewer (11 percent) say their kids have asked the Tooth Fairy for a gift instead of or in addition to cash.