What Does It Mean When You Dream About Your Teeth Falling Out

Many people have experienced dreams in which their teeth fall out. Whether you believe in the interpretation of dreams or not, you might be curious to know the meanings that have been given to this phenomenon from different perspectives.
What Does It Mean When You Dream About Your Teeth Falling Out

Last update: 25 November, 2021

To dream about your teeth falling out is pretty common. Indeed, it’s a dream that a lot of us have had at some point in our lives. Therefore, you might be interested to know what this rather frequent dream might mean.

Sometimes, when you dream about your teeth falling out, it’s triggered by the repetition of a particular event in your life. Furthermore, this dream occurs most often during periods of stress, when anxiety is at its peak. There are many variations of this dream. In this article, we’ll try to examine them all.

The most common interpretations

To interpret your own dream about your teeth falling out, you need to figure out whether the meanings are positive and negative. Sort through the following different interpretations and find the one that’s most relevant to you.

Man with pain in his mouth

Latent insecurities

In the area of dream interpretation, tooth loss is associated with the feeling of insecurity or vulnerability regarding a recent event. It could be a sudden loss, such as the abrupt end of a relationship or a job change.

Costly commitments

You also might have this type of dream when you’re faced with making a decision but you don’t feel confident that you’ll make the right one. The dream reminds you of your feelings of ambivalence and the sensitive nature of this situation in your life.

Unwillingness to choose

Dreaming of your teeth falling out could be the reflection of a recent dilemma. It highlights the importance of a decision, but could also emphasize the cost of your inaction or unwillingness to make it.

Concerns with self-image

Another interpretation sees this type of dream as a representation of the fear of aging or of becoming less efficient or productive.

In other words, dreaming of losing your teeth would reflect the fear of the loss of living your life to the full and enjoying what nourishes you in life.

Fear of changes

The natural loss of teeth represents two vital stages in human development. For instance, you lose your teeth in childhood and again in old age. In this way, tooth loss represents transition.

If you’re going through a phase of many changes in your life, and this is making you anxious, it’s likely that your dream is due to this fact.

Freud and Jung’s interpretations

  • For Sigmund Freud, dreaming of losing teeth is related to the sensation of experiencing an excessively repressed sexuality. In fact, he claimed the dream of losing a tooth relates to the fear of losing your penis or clitoris.
  • For Carl Gustav Jung, losing teeth in a dream is the undeniable sign of a change linked to a renewal. He pointed out that the actual loss of a tooth for a child is the first experience of a physical loss. The child needs to make sense of this loss and move forward. It’s the tooth fairy who makes this loss symbolic and full of meaning. Therefore, Jung claimed that to dream of tooth loss indicates your need for support in facing your own personal evolution.

Christian and Islam interpretations of the dream

In the Christian interpretation, teeth represent the final barrier in accessing people’s thoughts. In effect, they’re the guardians of our words. Losing teeth is the sign of a word that can be delivered, a wise and sure word from man toward God and his approach to faith.

The interpretation of the dream of tooth loss is a classic in Islam:

  • Teeth can signify bad mood, greed, but also longevity or wealth. In fact, this dream can go even further and take on a premonitory aspect. It predicts that there’ll be deaths in your family or an upcoming departure to a distant country.
  • If you dream that you lose your teeth yet you don’t feel anything (neither fear nor pain) it means you don’t have empathy and you carry out many unworthy or immoral acts.
  • If a pious person dreams that they’re losing their teeth, it’s because they’re not assiduous enough in their prayers, and fasting is recommended.

Variants of the dream that your teeth are falling out

Many people have dreamed of losing their teeth at least once in their life. As we mentioned earlier, it tends to occur most often during periods of stress, when anxiety is at its peak. There are many variations of this dream. 

Dreaming of losing your incisors

Dreaming of losing your incisors may suggest that your decision-making power is diminishing. Perhaps you have a difficult choice to make and can’t come to a decision.

  • Loss of the upper right first incisor may indicate problems with a significant male figure.
  • Loss of the upper left first incisor may suggest problems with a significant woman in your life.

Dreaming of losing your canines

Dreaming of losing your canines often indicates that you’re becoming less combative. In addition, a return on a particular investment might not be up to your efforts and expectations. This could relate to your personal, romantic, or professional life.

Dreaming of losing your molars

Dreaming of losing your molars means that you’re no longer able to assimilate and analyze information. You’re lost in the labyrinth of knowledge. In fact, you can no longer link facts and draw conclusions from them.

Dreaming of losing your baby teeth

Dreaming of losing your first milk tooth heralds an important event that’ll take you to a new period in your life. As a matter of fact, dreaming of losing your baby teeth is generally a really positive dream. It signifies that you’ve passed an important stage in your psychic and emotional development on the way to maturity.

Dreaming of teeth falling apart

Dreaming of teeth that break or crumble can be the reflection of a problem with your self-image. Therefore, if you’ve dreamed of loose teeth, this probably means you feel that you’re losing your attractiveness. In fact, it suggests you find yourself ugly, uninteresting, and less attractive than before.

Broken tooth

Dreaming that your teeth fall out without any pain

This type of dream can mean that you feel fear when facing certain situations. However, you have the ability to know how to overcome them successfully. In addition, it could also indicate that you have enough self-esteem to be able to face life, even if it’s without any teeth.

Dreaming that your teeth fall out in front of a mirror

If you’re in front of a mirror and you see your tooth or teeth fall out, it can be a symbol of low self-esteem. In this case, you may see yourself as a weak and insecure person. Therefore, you should consider working on your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Dreaming of losing all your teeth

Dreaming of losing all your teeth accompanied by a feeling of horror can represent a real situation in which you’re faced with an irrevocable decision that has the power to change your whole life. Whichever decision you take, there’ll be many consequences.

Dreaming of swallowing your teeth

Sometimes, in a dream, your teeth don’t only fall out, but you swallow them.  This can be a symbol of the loss of your identity. It suggests you’re feeling obliged to renounce your opinions and swallow your complaints.

Dreaming of teeth that grow back

Dreaming about your teeth growing back is usually a really good sign. It announces a notable improvement in your personal, professional, or financial situation. Teeth also grow back in dreams also to mark the end of a difficult divorce, when the dreamer regains their freedom.

Dreaming of brushing your teeth

Dreaming of brushing your teeth suggests that you’re increasing your self-esteem. In fact, you’ve taken steps that’ll make you feel more important, interesting, and attractive to others. Dreaming of brushing your teeth can also mean that you’re getting rid of everything unnecessary in your life and keeping only the essentials.

Factors that lead to dreaming that your teeth are falling out

Your unconscious usually recreates your dreams based on your daily experiences. In this way, there could be certain activities or situations in your daily life that influence your dreams of tooth loss. For example:

  • You’re having orthodontic treatment. In this case, you generally feel your teeth move as they adjust. This feeling can recur in your dream.
  • You’ve lost a tooth in an accident. Repeating the scenes of a traumatic event in a dream is extremely common. It can even be one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Indeed, if your tooth loss occurred under these kinds of circumstances, it might explain the reason for your dream.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.