Half of all my nightmares are about my teeth. I’m talking about the really sublime, soul shaking, wake-in-a-cold-sweat kind of nightmare.

They always start like normal dreams, but soon I realize that my teeth have all twisted out of place, or my gums have decayed, or my enamel had disappeared. My mouth is ruined and will never be the same again. Gums and teeth twisted, turned to mush, I feel like a stranger in living unwelcome in my mouth.

I realize that I can no longer speak properly. All that comes out are slurred sputterings and drool. People turn away from me as I open my lips. I am no longer a person, I am a twisted perversion, a beast that holds the shape of a man, the bridge of speech lost in the putrid aggregation of teeth and flesh that was once two rows of nice, ordered teeth.

And nothing can offer me any comfort, because I brought it upon myself. Every time i have this dream, I bring it upon myself, and I do not know how.