Dad yanks out his son's tooth by attaching some string to his car

This is the (slightly unnerving) moment a US father decided to pull out one of his son's front teeth by using his car.

Video of the unconventional extraction has been met with mixed feelings, after it appeared on the website Live Leak this week and went viral.

While many viewers - mostly men - applauded the approach as funny and innocuous, others thought it cruel and unnecessary.

The video shows a boy standing on a driving at the end of a cul-de-sac. His tooth has been attached by string to the back of his father's Audi S5.

The man rolls down the window and starts to countdown as the engine revs.

The boy's mother is then heard telling him to "open your mouth".

The boy runs to fetch his tooth from the street after the controversial extraction. Photo / LiveLeak

The father then takes off down the street, and the boy can be heard letting out a yelp. He then screams out "my toothy" as he runs out onto the street looking for the tooth that has just been ripped out of his mouth by a car.

As the mother, who is filming, approaches him with the camera, the boy appears to be crying.

However he opens his mouth to show that the tooth was removed, revealing both his two front teeth are missing.

Many viewers expressed outrage at what appears to be a frightening exercise to put a child through.

One said: "If you need a car to pull it out.... it might not be ready to come out."

Another commented online: "I know it's harmless but it's somehow just not right and I feel bad for the kid having possibly s**** parents."

A third said: "Gotta make that overpriced car payment somehow, poor kid."

The father is not named in the video upload and it is unclear where the footage was taken, but it is believed to be in the US.