During dental visits patients raise many topics of discussion…sports, weather, work, family, politics, religion, the economy…but one of the more interesting topics involve dreams. Occasionally patients tell me they have had a dream about their teeth. I have always found that interesting, because I can't remember ever having a dream about teeth. I have found over the years that most patients who report of tooth dreams, especially dreams of all of their teeth falling out, had parents with dentures or extensive dental problems.Recently, while checking up on the subject, I discovered that dreaming about teeth is in the top ten dreams list. It is an interesting article by Aisling Ireland and I will just reproduce parts of it here, because I do not claim to be any kind of expert on this topic (didn't even know there was one).
Tooth loss dreams are profoundly disturbing and extraordinarily common. The dreams take many forms from teeth shattering like glass to crumbling away but the manner in which the teeth are lost is usually not important. Tooth loss dreams are symbolic of the deepest fears human beings have and generally have negative interpretations. Here is a partial list of those fears:
Fear of Death and Growing Old
- Symbol of Powerlessness--In many dreams of teeth falling out, the dream starts with just one tooth falling out followed by the rest. Dreamers often try to stop the teeth from coming out but to no avail.
- Fear of Change
- Fear of Failure or Embarrassment--In waking life, people often cover their mouths when they have bad, crooked or missing teeth, usually out of embarrassment.
- Poor Health and Financial Instability--Accidents and aging are the two most common reasons teeth fall out. But improper nutritional is another.
- Abandonment--Fear of abandonment may feel similar to the feeling of the hole left in the mouth in a tooth loss dream.
- Loose Lips Sink Ships--They may be warnings that one is revealing too much information with the lost teeth standing in for the secrets one is revealing.
- Dreams are reflections of what is going on in our psyche and are meant as guide posts to help us be more successful in waking life. So despite the bleak meaning most of these interpretations carry, it is important to realize they are meant to be helpful and not hurtful.
Of course it is possible that maybe you are just afraid of loosing your teeth—so keep flossing and brushing.