Dreams and Stress

One night about seven years ago, I woke up in a cold sweat. “Oh, they’re still there.” My teeth that is. I felt my mouth—just another dream about my teeth falling out. In fact, I had this dream so often that I started calling it the “Teeth Series.”

I was going through a rough time. To add to my stress, my dreams were stressful, too! At the time people around me said, “It’s good to dream. It means your subconscious is working through things.” Easy for them to say. They were not having visions of bloodied teeth in their hands or toothless grins. Dreams of my teeth falling out were beginning to freak me out. It was as though I was playing the starring role in Nightmare on Elm Street.

I’d read that teeth falling out was a common dream and was probably about control. It was true some things had happened at the time that were beyond my control and were causing me immense stress, but Just knowing that this was a universal dream made me feel better. And I must admit, it did make for funky poetry. Here’s one:

“My Last Tooth”

Looking at the mirror

All had fallen out

Then I had a few

Then some were falling out

And then baby teeth

Were falling out

And some were large and falling out.

And finally

I took them out

Big, bloody ones stored in back.

I twisted and pried

And then the set were back.

And then one was out.

And then all were back.

My teeth were there.

And I was back.

Later, the more I thought of the “Teeth Series” as dreams that were helping me understand my stress (or write poetry, no matter the quality), the better I felt. I started writing the dreams down, which gave me a feeling of control, rather than panic. And, in later versions of the dream, (as reflected in the above poem), something else happened. I was taking out the teeth and moving them around. In fact, I was taking charge of my life at about the same time. And the teeth were coming back (which must be positive, right?). Something frightening had turned into something powerful.