Stimulated by a toothache dream of his own, the author sets out to discover why the teeth may be used in dreams to represent people. He first quotes numerous examples from folklore showing a widespread belief that the tooth-losing dream portends the death of a near relative or friend. He derives the tooth symbol from the grouping of the primitive family around the U-shaped fireplace. Through the equation of the oral cavity with the mother and the house, the teeth become the symbols of the members of the household. The paper is chiefly interesting as a speculative contribution to the phylogenesis of dream symbols.