乳 歯 Milk (baby) teeth

先日、孫たちに乳歯を保管できる小さな箱（写真参照）を買いました。

私が小さい頃は、「 永久歯が上下それぞれまっすぐに丈夫に生えてくれるよう、下の乳歯は屋根の上へ放り投げ、上の歯は縁の下へ放り投げる」 というのが風習でした。

最近の高層マンションに住んでいる子供は、いったいどうするのかと気になりますが、最近は事情が変化しているようです。

日本では抜けた歯はさっと水で洗い、水分を取り除き、抗菌作用があり湿気に強い桐の木箱（写真参照）で保存すると良い、とのことです。

欧米では異なった習慣があり、枕の下に置いておき、それらがお金に代わるとのことです。

Milk (baby) teeth:

The other day, we bought our grandchildren small boxes to store their baby teeth (tooth fairy boxes, see the picture).

When I was a child, it was customary to "throw the lower baby teeth up on the roof and the upper teeth down under the veranda so that the permanent teeth would grow strong straightly upwards and downwards respectively.

I wonder what children now living in high-rise apartments would do these days, but the situation seems to have changed recently.

In Japan, it is said that missing teeth should be quickly rinsed with water to remove any moisture and stored in a wooden box made of paulownia wood (see photo), which has antibacterial properties and is resistant to humidity.

In Europe and the United States, a different custom is to keep them under the pillow, where they can be changed to money.