in return for a new one. In some parts of India, young children offer their discarded baby teeth to the sun, sometimes wrapped in a tiny rag of cotton turf. In the Assam state of India, children throw their baby teeth to the roof of their house and urge a mouse to take it, to exchange with its teeth (permanent ones). Something similar occurs in the Dominican Republic where children will throw their baby teeth to the roof of a house with a thatched roof and ask a mouse to take it and replace it with a new (permanent) tooth (but not its own). The tradition of throwing a baby tooth up into the sky to the sun playfully asking for a better tooth to replace it is common in Middle Eastern countries (including Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and Sudan). It may originate in a pre-Islamic offering and certainly dates back to at least the 13th century, when Izz bin Hibat Allah Al Hadid mentions it. In Prehistoric Britain, lost teeth were commonly burnt to destroy them. This was partly for religious reasons connected with the Last Judgement and partly for fear of what might happen if an animal got them. A rhyme might be said as a blessing: Old tooth, new tooth Pray God send me a new tooth See also Permanent teeth Human tooth development Tooth eruption Tooth fairy Teething Dentition References Types of teeth Tooth fairies