What Do People Without Teeth Have Nightmares About?

Sometimes I dream I have teeth.

I have teeth, and they are made of fingernails. Like my old teeth, these ones are falling out. They fall towards the back of my throat, and I begin to choke on my teeth.

My mother appears, alarmed. She does not move. My teeth keep falling.

In another dream, I am assaulted with dentures.

I wake up within the dream, and there they are, like a hand shoved into my mouth. I try to remove them, but I cannot.

My old teeth had hurt for years. I used to pick plaque off them with my fingernails.

Teeth are pain. Teeth are teenage years spent in waiting rooms playing Whirly Word with my mother.

I tongue my gums, and there is nothing but open space.