5 ms·

Teeth is a favorite focal-point for anxious people. My very anxious friend, who took acutane when she was younger, is absolutely certain her teeth will fall out

by creep 8y ago

Teeth is a favorite focal-point for anxious people. My very anxious friend, who took acutane when she was younger, is absolutely certain her teeth will fall out when she's 40 years old because her mother took acutane and all of her teeth fell out. The dentist apparently told her something about the roots drying up. I have dreams in which my jaw widens to the point that it gets stuck-- and then keeps widening. I have dreams where all my teeth fall out and I have to perform an algorithm to put them back in the right order. Probably because teeth are so exposed, so vulnerable, and are so critically important to social matters-- nevermind that I need them to eat. I also can't look at pictures of teeth for more than 30 seconds without feeling disconcerted, even though I focus on people's mouths most during a conversation.

tenaciousDaniel 8y ago
You'd love the work of Junji Ito :) He focuses a lot on body horror: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/13-extremely-disturbing-junji-ito-panels.html https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/13-extremely-...
- creep 8y ago
  I've read a few! Horrifying, terrible for the soul and well-being.
majos 8y ago
This dream-of-teeth-falling-out thing is intriguing. I've never experienced it and I dream pretty much every night, even during naps. Yet somehow it's a "type" of dream for many people.
- evincarofautumn 8y ago
  I never had it (or didn’t notice) until I heard of it. Much like “exploding head syndrome”, it appears to be slightly contagious (suggestible). Even then, it wasn’t the usual “falling out”, but rather my jaw squeezing tighter and tighter, unable to open, until my teeth began to crack. I think I was really just grinding my teeth in my sleep after a night of drinking.
  - creep 8y ago
    Can I suggest something? I'm no expert, but magnesium is often suggested for teeth grinding, and is great for me to get relaxed before bed. It's also an important electrolyte (often overlooked as such)-- part of what you need to replenish after a night of drinking. If you're interested, pick up some magnesium bisglycinate. This form is kind of expensive, but the most bio-available (and consequently doesn't cause too much, if any, gas or cramping... or shitting). It helps a lot with my anxiety.
    - evincarofautumn 8y ago
      Thanks, I’m aware. :) Ironically, my diet was never healthier than when I was drinking too much, too often. I craved all the things that I was depleting, especially magnesium, and that my body needed to repair the damage I was doing to it. It actually taught me a lot about my body and what cravings for specific nutrients & minerals felt like. Nowadays I just drink a lot less! I take kratom for anxiety—and because it significantly reduces my desire to drink—and I guess a lot of people take magnesium (in one of its many different preparations) both as an alleged potentiator of kratom and to relieve the common side effect of constipation. Fortunately, kratom doesn’t have an appreciable effect on my bowels in the doses I take, and my diet is fairly high in magnesium already by way of grains, greens, nuts, and beans.
      - creep 8y ago
        > It actually taught me a lot about my body and what cravings for specific nutrients & minerals felt like. Nowadays I just drink a lot less! That's great, actually! A lot of people don't know what specific cravings mean. Helps a lot with overall health because I know if I'm craving fried food I just need some good fats so I go and make something with avocado oil or what-have-you. >I take kratom for anxiety I've wondered about kratom before. How specifically does it help your anxiety, and how often do you take it? Does it impair any cognitive functions to any degree? (Could you take it before class or studying and still be able to focus well?)
        8y ago
- creep 8y ago
  Are you not an anxious person? It used to be more common when I was younger and less self-aware, when I didn't know how to deal with anxiety or even that I experienced it to a significant degree. They are rare dreams for me now but very vivid in a specific way (I feel them in my body). The body thing seems to be common for emotive dreams. Most of my dreams on any given night involve some kind of "mission" in a realistically-rendered futuristic compound, without much of a body feeling unless I'm swimming or flying/falling. These dreams, I think, are a reflection of the way I think of my future-- kind of a way to resolve the map I have in my head of my trajectory. Then I have dreams where it's very clearly about the past. Usually steeped in mood (not necessarily emotion) and a sense of a cohesive "theme", which really illustrates the fruits of introspective moments during waking time. Then there are people who have dreams regularly filled with symbology, which is one of the common conceptions of what dreams are. Symbol dreams are rare for me, but I definitely pay attention when they happen. Ultimately I think it comes down to abstractions. Maybe when you wake up in the morning try to figure out what your dreams were abstracting, and then you'll notice a pattern. There are abstractions within the abstractions too. Very very intriguing stuff, like you said. Dreams are more important than our culture allows for, I think.
- jklinger410 8y ago
  I have these dreams sometimes and it is a terrible feeling. I also dream of getting shot, which is a similar sensation. You feel broken and wake up happy that you are not.
- parliament32 8y ago
  Not sure if this is an old slavic wives tale or well known, but my mother always told me that dreaming about teeth was caused by worrying about money/finances.
magic_beans 8y ago
I have the dream where all my teeth fall out in my mouth, one by one, until they are filling my mouth and I'm so desperate to keep them inside my mouth that I start to choke on them...
finiteautomata 8y ago
Damn, i took acutane and never knew it could affect a person's teeth. Oh well !
- creep 8y ago
  Hey, I don't know if that's a common symptom! My friend did some research and she said she found a few accounts of that happening, but I don't even think it's on the list of side-effects they give you. Keep that in mind!
- jessaustin 8y ago
  I took it. I'm 41 and all my teeth are fine. I have one filling, for a cavity that my dentist claimed was caused by a sealant that didn't fall off when it should have.
- brandonmenc 8y ago
  I took it and I'm 39 and have only had like two cavities my entire life. Accutane is a popular "scare drug" for some reason, when in fact it's a magical life-changing medicine.
danvayn 8y ago
For me, the jaw is my focal-point. I seem to tense my jaw when i feel anxious and not even notice it. Nowadays it can feel pretty bad after chewing for too long or just opening and closing my mouth. I'm just glad I don't have any nervous tics relating to teeth.
cowpewter 8y ago
I've had similar dreams as well. They usually only happen when I'm extremely stressed. It's usually my teeth falling out, and oh is the sensation of loose teeth rolling around in my mouth both vivid and horrifying. One time it was my tongue swelling up til I couldn't contain it in my mouth anymore, and another I was chewing bubblegum, but no matter how much gum I spit out, the gum kept growing until I was choking on it. I also had a dream where my teeth fell out, I woke up, was relieved it was only a dream, and got up to go the bathroom. Everything was normal and exactly as it should have been. Even the bathroom light switch worked, which is usually one of those things people say is a dream-tell. Then my teeth started getting loose again, and I panicked and woke up a second time. I had been just been dreaming that I woke up the first time.
- creep 8y ago
  Wow, this is apparently so common. One of the worst dreams you could have. Although, I do like those dreams-within-dreams. They usually happen when I'm "resting my eyes for five minutes". I dream that I've awoken and am dutifully completing my tasks for the day. Do you get those?
  - cowpewter 8y ago
    I don't often get those, though I did once have a dream-within-a-dream combined with sleep paralysis that was like seven dreams deep. I took a nap on the couch. Woke up on the couch, could not move. Woke up on the couch, could wiggle my fingers. Woke up on the couch, tried to roll over but woke up on the couch. Managed to roll off the couch onto the floor, but woke up on the couch. This continued til I managed to roll off and drag myself about a foot with my arms (my legs were still paralyzed), then I finally woke up on the couch, my whole body tingling, and wasn't sure I was really awake until I'd gotten up and gone about the rest of my day. I dunno, maybe everything since then has been a dream and I never did wake up from that nap.
    - creep 8y ago
      WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO WAKE YOU UP FOR YEARS. MOVE YOUR FINGERS IF YOU GET THIS MESSAGE. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
nonamechicken 8y ago
I had these dreams 4 or 5 times during a depressive period of my life. I never knew how common this dream was until I saw in Reddit from others. In my dreams, I would spit them out one by one and soon all my teeth would be in my hands. And I would wake up scared. I don't remember having them before that period. I haven't had them for the last 3-4 years once I came out of that phase.
pasquinelli 8y ago
i have dreams of casually plucking out my teeth like i might pluck out a long, out of place hair. those are fine to dream but a little unsettling upon waking.

by creep 8y ago

tenaciousDaniel 8y ago

You'd love the work of Junji Ito :) He focuses a lot on body horror: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/13-extremely-disturbing-junji-ito-panels.html https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/13-extremely-...

creep 8y ago
I've read a few! Horrifying, terrible for the soul and well-being.

majos 8y ago

This dream-of-teeth-falling-out thing is intriguing. I've never experienced it and I dream pretty much every night, even during naps. Yet somehow it's a "type" of dream for many people.

evincarofautumn 8y ago
I never had it (or didn’t notice) until I heard of it. Much like “exploding head syndrome”, it appears to be slightly contagious (suggestible). Even then, it wasn’t the usual “falling out”, but rather my jaw squeezing tighter and tighter, unable to open, until my teeth began to crack. I think I was really just grinding my teeth in my sleep after a night of drinking.
- creep 8y ago
  Can I suggest something? I'm no expert, but magnesium is often suggested for teeth grinding, and is great for me to get relaxed before bed. It's also an important electrolyte (often overlooked as such)-- part of what you need to replenish after a night of drinking. If you're interested, pick up some magnesium bisglycinate. This form is kind of expensive, but the most bio-available (and consequently doesn't cause too much, if any, gas or cramping... or shitting). It helps a lot with my anxiety.
  - evincarofautumn 8y ago
    Thanks, I’m aware. :) Ironically, my diet was never healthier than when I was drinking too much, too often. I craved all the things that I was depleting, especially magnesium, and that my body needed to repair the damage I was doing to it. It actually taught me a lot about my body and what cravings for specific nutrients & minerals felt like. Nowadays I just drink a lot less! I take kratom for anxiety—and because it significantly reduces my desire to drink—and I guess a lot of people take magnesium (in one of its many different preparations) both as an alleged potentiator of kratom and to relieve the common side effect of constipation. Fortunately, kratom doesn’t have an appreciable effect on my bowels in the doses I take, and my diet is fairly high in magnesium already by way of grains, greens, nuts, and beans.
    - creep 8y ago
      > It actually taught me a lot about my body and what cravings for specific nutrients & minerals felt like. Nowadays I just drink a lot less! That's great, actually! A lot of people don't know what specific cravings mean. Helps a lot with overall health because I know if I'm craving fried food I just need some good fats so I go and make something with avocado oil or what-have-you. >I take kratom for anxiety I've wondered about kratom before. How specifically does it help your anxiety, and how often do you take it? Does it impair any cognitive functions to any degree? (Could you take it before class or studying and still be able to focus well?)
      - 8y ago
creep 8y ago
Are you not an anxious person? It used to be more common when I was younger and less self-aware, when I didn't know how to deal with anxiety or even that I experienced it to a significant degree. They are rare dreams for me now but very vivid in a specific way (I feel them in my body). The body thing seems to be common for emotive dreams. Most of my dreams on any given night involve some kind of "mission" in a realistically-rendered futuristic compound, without much of a body feeling unless I'm swimming or flying/falling. These dreams, I think, are a reflection of the way I think of my future-- kind of a way to resolve the map I have in my head of my trajectory. Then I have dreams where it's very clearly about the past. Usually steeped in mood (not necessarily emotion) and a sense of a cohesive "theme", which really illustrates the fruits of introspective moments during waking time. Then there are people who have dreams regularly filled with symbology, which is one of the common conceptions of what dreams are. Symbol dreams are rare for me, but I definitely pay attention when they happen. Ultimately I think it comes down to abstractions. Maybe when you wake up in the morning try to figure out what your dreams were abstracting, and then you'll notice a pattern. There are abstractions within the abstractions too. Very very intriguing stuff, like you said. Dreams are more important than our culture allows for, I think.
jklinger410 8y ago
I have these dreams sometimes and it is a terrible feeling. I also dream of getting shot, which is a similar sensation. You feel broken and wake up happy that you are not.
parliament32 8y ago
Not sure if this is an old slavic wives tale or well known, but my mother always told me that dreaming about teeth was caused by worrying about money/finances.

magic_beans 8y ago

I have the dream where all my teeth fall out in my mouth, one by one, until they are filling my mouth and I'm so desperate to keep them inside my mouth that I start to choke on them...

finiteautomata 8y ago

Damn, i took acutane and never knew it could affect a person's teeth. Oh well !

creep 8y ago
Hey, I don't know if that's a common symptom! My friend did some research and she said she found a few accounts of that happening, but I don't even think it's on the list of side-effects they give you. Keep that in mind!
jessaustin 8y ago
I took it. I'm 41 and all my teeth are fine. I have one filling, for a cavity that my dentist claimed was caused by a sealant that didn't fall off when it should have.
brandonmenc 8y ago
I took it and I'm 39 and have only had like two cavities my entire life. Accutane is a popular "scare drug" for some reason, when in fact it's a magical life-changing medicine.

danvayn 8y ago

For me, the jaw is my focal-point. I seem to tense my jaw when i feel anxious and not even notice it. Nowadays it can feel pretty bad after chewing for too long or just opening and closing my mouth. I'm just glad I don't have any nervous tics relating to teeth.

cowpewter 8y ago

I've had similar dreams as well. They usually only happen when I'm extremely stressed. It's usually my teeth falling out, and oh is the sensation of loose teeth rolling around in my mouth both vivid and horrifying. One time it was my tongue swelling up til I couldn't contain it in my mouth anymore, and another I was chewing bubblegum, but no matter how much gum I spit out, the gum kept growing until I was choking on it. I also had a dream where my teeth fell out, I woke up, was relieved it was only a dream, and got up to go the bathroom. Everything was normal and exactly as it should have been. Even the bathroom light switch worked, which is usually one of those things people say is a dream-tell. Then my teeth started getting loose again, and I panicked and woke up a second time. I had been just been dreaming that I woke up the first time.

creep 8y ago
Wow, this is apparently so common. One of the worst dreams you could have. Although, I do like those dreams-within-dreams. They usually happen when I'm "resting my eyes for five minutes". I dream that I've awoken and am dutifully completing my tasks for the day. Do you get those?
- cowpewter 8y ago
  I don't often get those, though I did once have a dream-within-a-dream combined with sleep paralysis that was like seven dreams deep. I took a nap on the couch. Woke up on the couch, could not move. Woke up on the couch, could wiggle my fingers. Woke up on the couch, tried to roll over but woke up on the couch. Managed to roll off the couch onto the floor, but woke up on the couch. This continued til I managed to roll off and drag myself about a foot with my arms (my legs were still paralyzed), then I finally woke up on the couch, my whole body tingling, and wasn't sure I was really awake until I'd gotten up and gone about the rest of my day. I dunno, maybe everything since then has been a dream and I never did wake up from that nap.
  - creep 8y ago
    WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO WAKE YOU UP FOR YEARS. MOVE YOUR FINGERS IF YOU GET THIS MESSAGE. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

nonamechicken 8y ago

I had these dreams 4 or 5 times during a depressive period of my life. I never knew how common this dream was until I saw in Reddit from others. In my dreams, I would spit them out one by one and soon all my teeth would be in my hands. And I would wake up scared. I don't remember having them before that period. I haven't had them for the last 3-4 years once I came out of that phase.

pasquinelli 8y ago

i have dreams of casually plucking out my teeth like i might pluck out a long, out of place hair. those are fine to dream but a little unsettling upon waking.