We had a small but very serious visitor this week. Six years old, firmly in the tooth-fairy years, and she arrived not with a wobbly tooth, exactly, but with something closer to a formal complaint she hadn't quite worked out how to file.
She'd heard — because these things travel fast at the sandpit — that we're "in regular contact with the fairy." So she'd come for a word. Management, please.
She opened gently, the way all the best interrogations do:
"Okay so… if everyone's got their own fairy… is MINE any good?"
We said we were sure she was lovely. She narrowed her eyes.
"But is she one of the GOOD ones? Because I don't actually know. What if I got a rubbish one and I don't even know it?"
Reader, we have not stopped thinking about it since. Because — how would you know? You get the one you get. You've never met another fairy to compare. There's no league table. No Trustpilot. No little star rating that pops up over your pillow at 2am. You simply have to trust that the fairy assigned to you — at birth, with no interview process whatsoever — is quietly pulling her weight.
So we did what any responsible dental practice would do. We helped her build a performance review.
The official Tooth Fairy performance review
She was very clear that this had to be fair. (Her word. We were proud.) So we worked out the categories together, and she graded as we went.
Punctuality. Does the tooth actually get collected on the first night? Her fairy, she admitted, had once "left it a whole day," which in fairy terms is apparently a scandal on par with a missed birthday. Three out of five. "She's usually good though." A generous reviewer.
Stealth. Any waking-ups? Any near-misses? A truly elite fairy, we agreed, is never seen, never heard, and leaves no glitter trail that a suspicious six-year-old can follow to a conclusion she isn't ready for. Full marks. "I've NEVER caught her." Said with genuine respect.
Exchange rate. This is where it got tense. There is, it turns out, intense playground intelligence on the going rate, and she was fairly certain that Amelia-two-doors-down was on a considerably better tariff. We gently introduced the concepts of inflation, regional variation, and fairies being on a budget like everyone else. She was unmoved. "That's just what a rubbish fairy WOULD say."
Handwriting. Some fairies leave little notes. Hers does not. She felt this was a missed opportunity, and we were inclined to agree. Room for growth.
Presentation. Was the coin shiny? Was it placed nicely, or just sort of shoved under the corner like an afterthought? Hers, she conceded, does a very neat job. "She folds the pillow bit back." A professional.
By the end she'd arrived at a solid, well-argued four out of five — and, crucially, a great deal of relief. Her fairy, on review, was one of the good ones after all. She just hadn't had the data.
Why a six-year-old's filing system stayed with us
Here's the thing we couldn't quite shake. She wasn't really worried about the fairy. She was worried about not knowing — about the possibility that something important was happening to her, on her behalf, and she had no reliable way of telling whether it was being done well.
Which, if we're honest, is exactly how a lot of grown-ups feel about the dentist.
You get told a filling is fine. You nod. You have no way of comparing it to the filling you could have had. You hope the person looking after you is one of the good ones — punctual, gentle, honest about the exchange rate — but mostly you're just trusting the fairy and hoping for the best.
We think you should get to see the data too. Which is really what this whole silly, wonderful conversation is about.
What actually matters when the tooth finally comes out
The wobbly-tooth years are marvellous and slightly chaotic, and they're also the exact window in which a child decides — quietly and pretty much permanently — how they're going to feel about the dentist for the rest of their life. Get it right and the chair is an adventure. Get it wrong with one rushed, frightening visit, and you can spend the next twenty years undoing it.
So this is the part we take genuinely seriously, glitter aside:
- First visits are for making friends, not findings. Early appointments are gentle, unhurried and mostly about a child deciding the dentist is a nice place to be. No lectures. Rides up and down on the chair are actively encouraged.
- We speak fluent kid. Wobbly teeth get talked about honestly and cheerfully — what's happening, why it doesn't need to be scary, and yes, whether the fairy is likely to be impressed with the state of it.
- We keep the whole family in one place. Same friendly faces, same reception, whether it's a five-year-old's first check-up or a grandparent's implant. Nobody enjoys explaining their family's dental history four times to four different practices.
- We're honest about what's needed — and what isn't. We will never upsell a child or invent work. If everything's healthy, the best thing we can possibly tell you is: see you in six months, keep brushing, well done.
That's how you raise a person who books their own check-ups at thirty without being nagged. It starts with a good first tooth, a good first visit, and a fairy who — reassuringly — turns out to be one of the good ones.
The grown-ups get a turn too
Here's the quiet secret of a good family dentist: the same practice that makes a child's first visit magical is also the one that makes the grown-ups want to be in the photographs again.
Because somewhere between the school runs and the packed lunches, a lot of parents quietly stop smiling with their teeth. They know exactly which tooth they're hiding. They've been "getting round to it" for years.
You don't need to wait for a wedding or a big birthday. The whitening, the bonding, the gentle straightening, the quiet confidence of a smile you're no longer managing in every picture — that isn't vanity, it's just your turn. And if you want that glow-up to be a proper wow, come and see us in Sutton Coldfield.
Come and meet the people the fairy trusts
The tooth fairy handles the small magic — the collection, the coin, the folded-back pillow corner. We handle everything else: the first wobbly tooth, the nervous first visit, the whole family's check-ups, and the grown-up glow-up that puts your smile back in the picture.
We're Sutton Dental Care, on Coleshill Street in the heart of Sutton Coldfield, and we've been looking after local families since 1949. Bring your little ones. Bring yourself. Bring the very serious six-year-old with the clipboard — we would genuinely love to meet her.
📍 29–31 Coleshill Street, Sutton Coldfield, B72 1SD
📞 0121 354 7570
Book your family in — and let's give everyone in Sutton Coldfield something to smile about.
