We have a little door-hanging tooth pocket. (Example Link below) This lets us avoid the pillow entirely.
As for inflation, our tooth fairy gives funny denominations. Gold $1 coins, $2 bills, etc. sometimes with tooth fairy related stickers on them, to mark their specialness.
Edit: link https://www.target.com/p/kids-39-tooth-fairy-pillow-blue-pillowfort-8482/-/A-80774594
What I do for pizzas overloaded with toppings is start in the microwave, finish in the air fryer.
I'm also late to the air fryer game, because I didn't want to keep making"fried" things... Instead I just kept frying things on the stove...