My teeth have fallen out at fancy dinners and in public restrooms. They’ve sprinkled from my mouth like enamel confetti before dates, important business meetings and major public speaking engagements. Each time, it’s troubling, stressful and deeply inconvenient. Fortunately, it’s only ever happened in my dreams.
“A lot of people have that dream,” says Dr Dylan Selterman, associate teaching professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University. People often tell Selterman they think it’s weird that they have this kind of dream, or assume it says something about their personality. “I don’t think that’s the case,” he says.
Dreams of teeth falling out occur “across cultures”, says Melinda Powell, co-founder of the Dream Research Institute in London, and author of The Hidden Lives of Dreams. Research suggests that 40% of the adult population will have had one such dream over the course of their lives, she says.
Why do so many of us dream about our teeth falling out? And what could it mean? We asked experts.
What are dreams and why do we have them?
“Dreams are any kind of mental activity that we are aware of while we’re sleeping,” says Selterman.
These could present as a series of fleeting images, or full mental movies with plot and characters.
But nobody’s entirely sure why we dream.
“There are good ideas, but nothing conclusive,” says Selterman. “Dreams are still an unsolved mystery of science.”
On one extreme, he says, is the idea that dreams are a kind of wish fulfilment – a way for our unconscious desires to express themselves. (Selterman’s view of this theory: “That’s crazy.”) On the other extreme, he says, is the idea that dreams are “nonsensical junk”, the result of random neurons firing while we sleep.
Selterman says he tends to subscribe to the “continuity theory” of dreams, which suggests they help us prepare for future situations and consolidate information based on what we have already experienced.
Dr Kelly Bulkeley, director of the Sleep and Dream Database, sees dreams similarly. He describes dreaming as a sort of imaginative play. “When we go to sleep, we detach from the external world, and our minds and imaginations are free and liberated to process the experiences we’ve had during the day, connect them with past experiences, and get ready for what’s coming,” he says.
Powell, who worked for 12 years as a psychotherapist, says that from a therapeutic perspective, “dreams help us process our emotions by mirroring back to us our inner state.”
But what does any of that have to do with teeth?
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What do dreams of teeth falling out mean?
There hasn’t been much research done on the topic, Selterman says, and what’s out there isn’t terribly strong. Many of the studies have been based on surveys, which can be inaccurate, Selterman says. People tend to overestimate or underestimate the prevalence of their dreams, and many don’t remember their dreams with great accuracy. “You’re asking people to reflect on something they’re not really paying attention to in their day-to-day lives,” he says. This makes accurate data difficult to gather.
Still, theories abound.
“It could reflect some kind of underlying apprehensiveness, or it could reflect something about the way in which we think about our appearance,” he says.
(Indeed, when I was in high school and asked a friend what they thought teeth falling out dreams meant, she said: “I heard they mean you think you’re ugly.” I didn’t mention having them again after that.)
Another theory is that teeth symbolize change, says Bulkeley. There are generally two times in a person’s life when their teeth fall out, he explains: when we lose our baby teeth, and when we are very old and our adult teeth fall out. This makes teeth “a very vivid marker of ageing and growing”, he says; as a result, dreaming about teeth falling out could point to an “experience of growth, maturation, or decline”.
A person’s teeth might also fall out when they’re not receiving adequate nutrition, notes Powell. “It’s important for us to pay attention to this type of dream, as we are being urged to consider what is out of balance in our lives,” she says.
People might have dreams about their teeth falling out when they are overwhelmed or depleted, Powell says. Sure enough, I have had these dreams most frequently when I was studying for exams or applying to jobs.
Dreams of dental distress might then be considered a signal that one needs rest and nourishment. Powell recalls one instance, during a time of “extreme burnout”, when she dreamed she was haemorrhaging from her gum, and telling those around her that she needed a blood transfusion. When she woke, she was shaken, but realized that the “infusion” she really needed “was one of rest and renewal”.
I haven’t dreamed of my teeth falling out recently, and for that I’m grateful. But next time I do, I’ll know that I’m burned out, or experiencing change, apprehensiveness, maturation, decline, or anxiety about my appearance. Finally, clarity.
