And I’m really sympathetic because I have nightmares too. But my sleep scares do not involve losing mass numbers of teeth.
So lately, not a week goes by when a patient doesn’t check-in, take a seat, ask if I’m really doing okay, and then tell me about one particular scary dental nightmare they’ve been having. And I’m really sympathetic because I have nightmares too. But in my sleep scares, I don’t lose any teeth.
I’ve had three basic lifetime nightmares, currently down to two.
The first nightmare was kind of a brief “Risky Business” remake where I was taking the SAT, totally unprepared and without a freakin’ clue. In fact, that’s exactly how I did take the SAT. Dental school pretty much cured me of nightmare #1, simply by becoming nightmare #2. I dream I’m trapped in dental school and can’t get out; it’s like the Miracle on 34th Street (one block south of Jefferson) never happened. I still dream about the DDS bait and switch every September-and I’ve already had a few prequel flashbacks.
My longest running nocturnal rerun is all about my car being stolen (as it was…in dental school.) The dream’s really annoying because in it, I already know the theft will occur even as I’m parking the freakin’ car. And just like with the dental school dream, I wake up in a cold sweat. Oh, and by the way, I also had my pants stolen in dental school (I wasn’t wearin’ ‘em) but I’ve never had that nightmare.
When I Googled “Dreams: teeth falling out” I got 1,600,000 results; when I searched “Jokes about Cleveland” I only found 806,000. It helps to have perspective on stuff. And yeah, now I know why ducks fly upside down over the Cuyahoga River, The Indians, and the Browns.
A thready link to Dr. Oz took me to his “5 Most Common Recurring Dreams.” I landed on the “Tooth Loss” page and, like usual, I’d still be looking for the other four outa five if I hadn’t previously been suckered into clicking on the “Three Best Supplements that will help you live to one-hundred on three Double-Doubles per day”…and wasting 2-unrequited-hours of my life in the process. Second time: “Shame on me, or on you, or whatever”- George W. Bush
Anyway, Oz shared recurring dreams like tooth loss were more about the psychological, not the physical. Duh. Like, has anyone, in the Philippines or even Arkansas ever actually awakened only to find a bunch of their teeth on the pillow? And it seems like only yesterday Doc Oz was warning dental patients about x-rays, thyroids, and the 1972 issue of dental lead aprons. But I guess timing isn’t always everything.
Non-Oz findings connect tooth loss dreams broadly to aging or life transitions; they’ve also been linked to the desire to be nurtured or relationship repression (that one really hurt.) Meanwhile, I’ve been kind of reluctant to proceed with my own research and asking deep probing personal questions and stuff that might explain the “tears and my teeth on my pillow” dreams.
So I guess I’ll just continue to empathize with the dreamers, not dig so deeply, and be thankful my ’72 Candy Apple Red Corvair, and not me, was the one who didn’t quite go the distance in dental school.
