# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion > Dream Interpretation >  >  A dream about a tooth extraction

## SoulDreamer

Hi Everyone,

Last night I had a dream that I was having a tooth extracted which in real life was diagnosed a few days ago as needing either extracted or a root canal.  In the dream, when I was having the tooth pulled, there were between 5 and 7 people holding me down. At the point of extraction, it was almost like I had been put to sleep or at least, have no recollection of it being pulled and was watching it happen as an observer, so as a result, there was nothing traumatic about the experience. A while later, I asked the dentist if he could give me the extracted tooth and when I touched it, it gave me an enormous electric shock. The dentist told me that this was quite normal. The only other thing I remember about the dentist was that he was very arrogant, cocky and sure of himself. In terms of how I felt in this dream, the only word I can use to describe it is strange. Everything just felt strange, but then again, I am currently doing a 2 week green juice fast so that is typical of how I feel during this time anyway.

There was also a second part to this dream. A very close friend of mine, who in real life suffers from chronic bleeding gums, saw the dentist after me. In the dream, the dentist concluded that the infections around his gums (at least I think that is how I recall it) meant that he was going to need a large number of his teeth extracted. When he was told this, he was inconsolable and starting sobbing like a baby. In real life, I have been keeping this friend at arms length recently as he has not been having a particularly positive effect on my life, so I am wondering if this has any relevance.


I am a 40 year old male and the only other things I can think of that might be relevant to this dream is that I have been worried about the state of my teeth for a while and that I am in the process of working through heavy parental issues from my childhood and am in the process of removing my destructive family from my life permanently. 

If anyone could give any pointers as to what this dream means I would be most grateful.

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## moSh

Your final paragraph shows you seem to have some good ideas already about what this may mean; a combination of 'extracting' unhealthy parts of your life with the manifest content (excuse the Freudian term) of your dental hygiene worries. 

The only thing I can think of to input is that I've always heard that dreams in which your teeth fall out relate to financial worries. However, I have never experienced this, nor do I particularly believe in dreams having such abstract representational value, but I thought I'd throw it in there just in case it made more sense to you  :smiley: 

Good luck!

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## JoeyBelgier

To quote myself from my DJ: 





> I have already dreamed about teeth before. Once I dreamed that my teeth were falling out for no apparent reason. I run to the bathroom (the house looked pretty much the same as my real house as far as I can recall) and watch into the mirror. I see myself as I was expecting, nothing special. I open my mouth and blood slowly pours out. It runs into the drain. Can't remember anything further than that, dream happened a long time ago.
> 
> 
> 
> I notice that these teeth dreams mainly appear when I'm experiencing stress or sadness in the wake life...



So yeah, last line says it.

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## SoulDreamer

Thanks for the replies. The extracting something from my life idea makes sense, I just don't understand why during the extraction I was held down by several people, why I was observing it instead of feeling it whilst it was happening and why the tooth gave me a huge electrical shock when the dentist placed it in my hand. There must be a deeper meaning to that and it is really bugging me.

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## moSh

Well I suppose if you carry on with the same theme of 'extracting something from your life', some fairly easy explanations of the rest come to mind. 

An obvious meaning of being held down is simple resistance to ending things with the family - whether this is from your unconscious or conscience, or your family themselves. It's no doubt a hard thing to do, removing family, and some part of you may feel like it's not the right thing to do.

The electric shock (which I assume was unpleasant), in its simplest translation, could represent a worry that removing the particular family members from your life may prevent you from ever going near them again in the future, even if they were no longer causing you suffering. The tooth could be an extracted family member, now removed and no longer causing you toothache, which prevents you from getting close with an electric shock. 

As for the out-of-body part, I can't think of an obvious meaning, and it could well just be arbitrary. As could the whole rest of the dream. The explanations I've given are just the first things that came to mind; they are what seemed the most predictable and transparent, so feel free to alter them or disregard them completely  :smiley:

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## Morningangel

SoulDreamer, have you had any worries about your appearance lately or how other people physically perceive you?  As handsome, well-groomed, weird-looking?  Is there anyone in particular that you would like to impress?  Also, is this tooth extraction that you are facing in real life going to change your appearance in any way?

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## SoulDreamer

> Well I suppose if you carry on with the same theme of 'extracting something from your life', some fairly easy explanations of the rest come to mind. 
> 
> An obvious meaning of being held down is simple resistance to ending things with the family - whether this is from your unconscious or conscience, or your family themselves. It's no doubt a hard thing to do, removing family, and some part of you may feel like it's not the right thing to do.
> 
> The electric shock (which I assume was unpleasant), in its simplest translation, could represent a worry that removing the particular family members from your life may prevent you from ever going near them again in the future, even if they were no longer causing you suffering. The tooth could be an extracted family member, now removed and no longer causing you toothache, which prevents you from getting close with an electric shock. 
> 
> As for the out-of-body part, I can't think of an obvious meaning, and it could well just be arbitrary. As could the whole rest of the dream. The explanations I've given are just the first things that came to mind; they are what seemed the most predictable and transparent, so feel free to alter them or disregard them completely



Yes that it making some sense. There is definitely a great of great deal of resistance to letting go of the negativity. It is interesting that rather than let the tooth go, I asked if I could keep it, yet when I put it in my hand, I got a shock. I think that is trying to tell me that when I let go of the negativity that the tooth represents, I need to let go of it completely. Thanks, that does help.

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## SoulDreamer

> SoulDreamer, have you had any worries about your appearance lately or how other people physically perceive you?  As handsome, well-groomed, weird-looking?  Is there anyone in particular that you would like to impress?  Also, is this tooth extraction that you are facing in real life going to change your appearance in any way?



No, I don't think so. I haven't been particularly worried about my apprearance and the tooth concerned is near the back so won't really show. Although maybe there is something in my subconscious that it is bringing up. Is there something in particular in my dream that brought that idea up?

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## Morningangel

Well, teeth falling out or being pulled out is one of the most common dreams.  I am not sure about the percent, but it's probably one of the top 10 to 15 types of metaphors that occur to people in dream, so you are in good company!

What teeth mean varies a lot, depending on what book you read.   The meaning I give the most faith at the moment is by Charles McPhee, and the reason is that he has compiled such a vast number of dreams around the world, and he has tons of experience with following up with his dream interpretations.

In his experience, teeth reflect concerns about "physical appearance, social presentation, and effectiveness in a competitive environment."  Your situation is a little different, because you actually have a real life tooth extraction coming up.  In that case, the dream probably reflects "literal concerns" about the condition of your teeth or the procedure.

Nevertheless, I wanted to ask about the other, emotional, possibility.

Blessings and good luck with your dental work!

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