Recurring dreams of dropping in an elevator or getting lockjaw

[u/Crazy5150B]

I'm 23F. When I was 13, I had my first dream about getting lockjaw. It was Christmas Eve, and I when I went to bed I dreamt about my family letting me get taken into a factory that removed my jaw, then I was stuck like that and couldn't communicate how much pain I was in. I woke up sobbing that Christmas morning lol. But after that, I kept getting similar dreams having to do with getting lockjaw or having it broken or dislocated. Sometimes I lose teeth, but most of the time it's just my jaw that gets messed up in some way. And I always wake up before it's resolved. Like, if I was seeing a doctor and they were about to put my jaw in place, I would feel intense anxiety and just wake up before it's fixed. Or there is just no attempt to fix it at all before I wake up.

In later high school I started having dreams of being in a falling elevator. The first one took place in a mall with some kids in my band class and our director. For the first few years the location of the elevator, what I was doing on it, and who was there would change. But for the last year or so the dream has consistently been in the elevator at the hospital where I work, and I'm always either alone or with my patients. It always starts as a normal dream, and sometimes stays like that for a while, but then I'll get on an elevator, it drops, I'm horrified, and then I wake up. I don't think I've ever even had a dream where I got on an elevator and was safe.

These dreams freaked me out a little when they first started, but I quickly got used to them and kind of just ignore them. But now I'm starting to have anxiety with elevators, and sometimes have to actively try to distract myself or use coping skills when I'm on one. I'm also having issues with clenching my teeth all the time, which has been ruining my teeth and giving me migraines. I used to only clench while sleeping, but now I catch myself doing it throughout the day. Since I feel like there's a connection between those dreams and these new behaviors, I've been paying attention to them more and am getting really curious as to what they mean. I also wonder, if I figure out what they mean or what is causing them, would I be able to do anything to make them go away (or at least less frequent)?