Tonight one of my patient's mothers showed me a molar tooth she had found in her 9 year old son's bed while he was sleeping. It was a healthy, strong, white tooth. She was concerned he was loosing teeth and not having any new teeth growing. We talked about baby teeth and adult teeth for a while and I tried to assure her that he'd probably be growing new adult teeth already.
While we were talking about teeth, I told her about our tooth fairy. She laughed of course at how silly it was. But then she told me, along with the translator helping, about their African version.
If they have a tooth fall out, they must not let a lizard see their missing tooth. If one does, the story goes that the new tooth will not come. To prevent this, they must wait until dark and throw their tooth on the roof of their house.
Interesting hey.
Haha, I love seeing how myths change across culture.
ReplyDelete