The tooth fairy gets a digital upgrade

While Santa's out here still using animal power to get around, the tooth fairy has been busy keeping up with the times.

• Take inflation for example: In the US, the average tooth fairy payout in 2023 was $6.23, not the $1.30 it was in 1998 or the measly quarter you probably got as a kid. 

Now, the dreamtime dentist is staying current with a digital transformation through Tooth Fairy Tracker — a website that makes the whimsical tradition more digitally connected and oral care a bit more magical.

How it works

• After a kid loses a tooth, parents can enter their email and child’s name on the website to receive updates from Kiki, AKA the tooth fairy, as she begins her journey to collect the tooth — no account or app needed. Updates include selfies, videos, and make-believe insights like flight speed.
• Evening updates, founder Oliver Finel told TechCrunch, help prepare kids for bedtime and encourage them to brush, while morning updates reveal what happened overnight as they uncover the gift left under their pillow. 

Launched in October, Finel is already planning a 2026 redesign that includes more personalization, more characters, gamified and interactive experiences, and content on healthy oral care habits. 

While it’s currently free, the updated version will require a paid subscription.

After that, the goal is to “create a dental universe” by partnering with dentists, adapting the product to new markets, and, eventually, introducing branded merch. 

Tech-driven whimsy

However the digitization of childhood wonder makes you feel, these are, after all, iPad and ChatGPT babies we’re talking about. 

And with tech only creeping further into our lives, it makes sense that the tooth fairy isn’t the only magical character that’s been reimagined in a way that feels native to a digital-age upbringing.   

• There are several Santa trackers with maps featuring “real-time” updates on the man with the bag’s whereabouts during the holiday season, as well as an Easter Bunny Tracker app that offers similar functionalities in the springtime, plus games and more.
• AI Santas are now aplenty, offering kids who can’t make it to the mall a chance to videochat with him at home.  

While it seems the Sandman has yet to receive the same digital treatment, we gotta say, he’d be perfect for a children’s sleep tracker, should someone think to dream one up.