Loosing Teeth
 

Ive always had really vivid dreams my whole life--meaning, I remember them quite frequently, daily in fact. I can manipulate them if I really wanted. Have a fascination with water in my dreams (I think it has to do with me being a Pisces) Just has always been an interesting part of my life.

Last night I dreamed I was at my parents house and a few of my teeth began falling out. I panicked, called out to my father who proceeded to tell me to wash the teeth in the sink for they including myself were covered in blood. As I washed them and my mouth, my teeth slowly began falling down the drain until I basically lost all of them. I panicked more then I forcefully woke up (something else I can do when Im feeling extreme fear in my dreams)

I always heard of this being a kind of "normal" dream that people have on occasion and was fascinated that I never had one in the past...until now.

Went to my trusty friend Google and discovered the following:

"According to recent studies in dream interpretation,
dreaming about losing your teeth is an indicator of anxiety and,
possibly, depressive states. Dreams about losing teeth also tend to point to feelings of helplessness and lack of control over one’s life circumstances.

The loss of a tooth or teeth in your dream could be a way to symbolically bring to your awareness something you are giving up or feel like you are losing in your waking life.

A positive interpretation for losing teeth in dreams associates tooth loss imagery with giving birth to something new in your life.

A positive interpretation for losing teeth in dreams associates
tooth loss imagery with giving birth to something new in your life."

I figured it was going to basically come down to something having to do with alcohol and it seems it does.

I have not been craving alcohol luckily the past 3 days of my sobriety but I HAVE indeed been thinking about it alot-- mainly just the fact that Ive let it ruin my life long enough and Im truly ready to be done with it and leave it in my past. Ive been pretty much constantly on here talking with people in chat and reading/commenting on forums, just surrounding myself with positive energy and support.
I am forever grateful for this site.

Has anyone else had dreams like this before? If so, how far into recovery? Im guessing it makes sense to have them in the beginning. It truly was terrifying though.

*Side-note: I will be at tonights AA meeting in the chat rooms. Hope to see you guys there. 9pm Est*

My OH practices lucid dreaming - might be worth looking into if you're interested in manipulating your dreams.

I have the ability to do that actually. Just depends if I realize Im dreaming (happens maybe once a week) I dont really care to do that. I think the point of having dreams is to truly let yourself and your mind explore. To see an extreme difference from reality or to see another aspect of reality that you never seen before.

This thread is mainly more about the whole fact of the teeth falling out.

I've had the teeth-falling-out dream for as long as I can remember. Before I started drinking, while drinking, and after quitting drinking.
Being I'm chronically depressed and anxious, it makes sense.

Thats what I was truly wondering Lily... I do suffer from depression and Ive been really hopeful that my depression will cease because of my sobriety but as I said earlier, I never had a dream like this before. Im convinced sobriety has triggered it.

I had this dream about a week before I quit. It was quite similar to yours in that I asked my father for advice after one tooth fell out. He told me to keep the teeth, so I did, and then a bunch more fell out.

What's hilarious is that this is obviously a very deep dream, which your research shows. But me? I assumed it was triggered by my guilt over the fact that I don't floss.

I've flossed every night since, though, and no more teeth dreams. Maybe it was about flossing in my case? :p

Or maybe it meant I was fed up with drinking and ready for a change. I certainly was/am.

I've had that dream before ( losing teeth ) but not related to my recovery.

I personally had a lot of odd dreams and sleepless nights when I first got sober. My theory is that it was simply my brain "stretching it's legs" again after being chemically sedated by alcohol every day for a couple of decades. AKA - don't try to read too much into them.

Regarding your depression, sobriety will most likely help a lot...but don't rule out it being a completely separate issue that might require separate treatment. I had horrible anxiety towards the end of my drinking and quitting definitely helped, but i still needed to treat it appropriately as it never fully got better 100%.

Yes, I had these dreams after 9/11 happened (lived in New York at the time). Turns out I was grinding my teeth and ended up, over time, with several broken molars. If you are waking up with headaches or jaw pain, something similar could be happening.

According to my dentist, teeth grinding is pretty common. You can get a mouthpiece that locks into place that protects your teeth. It has made a tremendous difference.

This just made me giggle help! Its a great thing that you floss by the way, I never do. :(

Glad to give you a giggle :p

My experience has been all kinds of weird dreams pop into our head when alcohol is removed. The details vary, but I've found that working a program - focusing on a solution daily dissipates these images.

Alcohol severely depressed me as well. Some choose to be evaluated by professionals for these issues,

The bottom line for me was accepting not just I was an alcoholic, but accepting a solution and taking action. Things started to clear up pretty quickly when doing these simple things I found.

Glad you're posting - keep coming back!:c011:

Yeap I still get them now and again, so I think it's more than recovery related!!

Very scary at times, until I wake up in a panic!!

*Just realized a section I meant to copy and paste of the research was doubled by something I wrote previously--this is what I meant to write:

"If you’re dreaming of losing teeth or a tooth, such a dream strongly indicates that you are dealing with events that feel like you are letting go of something important"

accurate as well.

It truly was quite terrifying (I rarely have nightmares. Havent had many since I was alot younger)

They werent just falling out of my mouth persay. From what I remember, one fell out, then the other 4, I kind of pulled out... Like noticed they were "wiggly" and proceeded to slowly pull them out of my mouth. I remember having the teeth in the sink and moving my hands around trying to get the blood from them and basically anytime I tried, one would go down the drain...one after another until they were all gone. I remember the panic of thinking " well now I cant have them put back in and Im gonna have to get false teeth" and looking up in the mirror and seeing this terrifying vision of myself, missing teeth, looking horrible. Thats when I forcefully woke up.

Horrible.

Not losing teeth but I've had many a funky dream where nothing makes sense I don't remember them much anymore occasionally il get a bad nightmare but that's it

I use to have this dream often when I was young, but I can't say I've had it when I drank a lot of alcohol or in sobriety. I've also had the missing shoes dream when I was a child as well. Kind of odd, because in the past couple of years I've had a many highly anxious and depressing things happen to me and I did not have those dreams.

I've had this dream twice in my life that I can remember, not sure if it's related to sobriety or not.

I've had many lucid dreams since getting sober - no teeth loss ones since tho - I've actually lost two in real life indirectly due to my drinking so I guess that's a fear realised and met for me now :)

D

I had dreams of losing teeth a lot when I was in my 20's, but I was a very anxious girl (I'm not anymore) and I associated them directly to a loss of control. I think I looked it up in "The Dreaming Mind."

I LOVE dreaming- and figuring out what they mean. My dreams are so lucid and real now, I look forward to them every night. They help me figure things out!

Hey Kirky !

Yeah my dreams have been very vivid in the early stages of sobriety. When I drank they used to be really bad nightmares now slowly after stopping, I am having better dreams.. I think my brain took a toll for the worst after drowning it in alcohol for so long, its going to take a bit for it to send my imagination happier thoughts haha. Hope your doing well mate.

Cheers

Dru -