Upper Right First Molar: Sun Tooth Archetype

Learn about the metaphysical meaning of the tooth represented by the archetype: Sun. Your top right first molar may be speaking to you with a vocabulary of sensitivity, decay, or gum pockets. Whether or not this tooth has got fillings, a crown, or a root canal, or even if it’s been extracted and replaced by an implant or left as a gap, the Sun tooth archetype has something to say about the origins of your beliefs about work.

This tooth may embody struggles related to professional life. Learn what different symptoms and restorations mean for this molar and get guidance on how to work with the Sun archetype for oral health and overall well-being.

This is part of a series of talks about the metaphysical meaning of each tooth. You may also want to first listen to the introduction called 'Tooth Archetypes: The Secret Lives Of Teeth' and join our ongoing discussion in the Secret Lives of Teeth group here on Insight Timer.

Transcript

Welcome to a deep dive into the metaphysical meaning of the sun archetype,

Which is embodied in tooth number three,

That's the upper right first molar,

Or in the space where that tooth would be.

We're talking about the big tooth,

Third from the back,

Including the wisdom tooth on the upper right,

Or second from the back if you don't have a wisdom tooth there.

The sun archetype is concerned with the origins of your beliefs about work.

It's especially sensitive to feeling professional dissatisfaction.

Tooth archetypes are a way to interpret oral health symptoms in or around each tooth,

With strengths that support the tooth to heal and be healthy,

And vulnerabilities which can influence how a tooth might succumb to disease.

The strengths of the sun archetype are idealistic,

While sun's vulnerabilities may arise from feeling judged.

In this talk I'll explain how the sun archetype fits into its place in the upper right quadrant of your mouth,

As one of the four first molars.

I'll outline its primary themes and relationships,

Offer interpretations of different symptoms which are common to this tooth,

And suggest strategies for using the sun archetype to support the health of the tooth,

Your whole mouth,

And your general well-being.

If you're not already familiar with metaphysical approaches to oral health,

I suggest checking out my talk called Tooth Archetypes,

Which introduces some foundational concepts from my book The Secret Lives of Teeth.

One of the key concepts is that,

In my experience,

The emotional or energetic root cause of almost all oral health symptoms can be traced to secrets,

Silences,

Or suppressed emotions.

Please note that if you are in serious pain,

Have a fever or swelling around this or any tooth,

You need to prioritise dental care alongside metaphysical healing.

What I'm discussing should be considered complementary rather than alternative health.

Also,

Please do not use this discussion of metaphysical influences on physical health to blame or shame anyone,

Including yourself.

First,

Let's put the sun archetype in context as your upper right first molar.

Teeth located on the right side of your mouth tend to respond to relationships with men,

Your public-facing activities,

And your professional dreams.

As a molar,

The sun archetype is one of the adulting teeth.

Adult first molars typically erupt around 6 years old,

Which is the age that you probably became capable of more abstract thinking.

A teacher friend of mine told me that it's much easier to teach reading and arithmetic to a child whose first molars have already erupted.

First molars represent your self-awareness about your roles and status in different domains,

Like home and work or school,

As well as any expectations placed on you in different kinds of relationships,

Such as siblings,

Friends and classmates,

Or parents,

Teachers and bosses.

Any challenges you experience with code-switching and fitting into diverse cultures can become embodied in first molars.

The sun archetype's place in the upper right quadrant,

Nestled between the name tooth and the daddy tooth,

May have internalised difficulties with the breadwinner in your family or another father figure.

It may also be sensitive to any struggles you might have with participating in a large workplace or school,

Or with your father's family and their culture.

Like the professional tooth archetype that is its opposite in the lower jaw,

The sun tooth archetype is related to your work life.

Because the sun is in the upper jaw,

It has more to say about the origins of your relationship with work than the day-to-day experiences which tend to occupy the professional archetype of your lower right first molar.

Now,

What about the unique meaning of the upper right first molar,

This singular tooth out of 32?

Three main themes of the sun tooth archetype are 1.

How you felt perceived by your father or family when you were growing up 2.

The origins of your values and attitudes towards work and 3.

Idealism,

Especially around your professional aspirations and career path.

A Greek myth which illustrates some of these themes is the story of Helios,

The sun god,

And his son Phaethon,

A sort of cautionary tale about wanting to follow in your father's footsteps.

Helios was proud of his important and demanding job of driving the chariot of the sun across the sky.

He was so busy working every single day that he had no time for family life,

So his son Phaethon grew up far away on earth with his mother Clymenae.

But as soon as he could get away,

Phaethon tracked down his father Helios,

Getting ready for his dawn to dusk workday at the stables of his eastern palace.

Helios was pleased to see his little boy,

But he was also distracted by getting his restless horses ready for their flight across the heavens.

Feeling a bit guilty about having been such an absent father,

He impulsively promised to give Phaethon whatever he wanted.

What Phaethon wanted was to try out his dad's job,

So he asked to be allowed to drive the chariot of the sun through the heavens.

Oh no,

Said Helios,

That's too dangerous and difficult for a child.

I'm the only one that can do this job.

But also,

As a god,

Without a human's common sense,

He felt bound by his oath,

So when Phaethon insisted,

Helios let him make the attempt.

The next dawn,

Phaethon was thrilled to climb aboard the chariot and take the reins,

But as soon as he set off,

He lost control of the horses,

So that the sun chariot started careening all over the sky.

The chariot veered up too high and the earth started to freeze without the sun's warmth.

Then the chariot fell so low that the earth began to smoke and steam from the sun's radiant power.

Eventually Zeus,

Boss of all the gods including Helios,

Was so annoyed by this bring your son to work day disaster that he killed Phaethon with a lightning bolt.

One of the key features of the sun tooth archetype relates to your experience of your parents' work,

Their professional legacy,

Or a family business.

This tooth may embody your childish impressions of how your parents' professional life affected your relationships with them,

Or how you were affected by the emotional residue they brought home from the office or factory floor.

The sun tooth can embody trauma from secrets,

Silences,

Or suppressed emotions about your family's source of income or your parents' role in the economy when you were young.

Over time,

You may have changed how you understand the impact of your family's work on other people,

Such as customers,

Competitors,

Suppliers,

And partners,

And so on.

The sun tooth can hold any emotional pain of inner or outer conflict that may have arisen from your evolving perspective.

Think about the language you heard growing up used to refer to the relationship between your parents' time and the family's access to resources.

The sun tooth can embody painful conflict in your family about work,

From friction over practical matters like work hours or a relocation,

To ideological conflicts about the morality of their livelihood.

Your own and your family's careers have taken place inside historical,

Collective contexts.

Your sun tooth may not only be embodying your personal or family's experience of struggles around work.

The more sensitive and empathetic you are,

The more likely you are to feel the pain of the community around you as they are buffeted by market and political forces.

Today,

The sun tooth may be affected by current collective insecurities from changing work cultures,

Mass layoffs,

The gig economy,

Tensions between working from home versus working in the office,

And now AI's threat to job security.

Your ancestors' experiences of work can impact your sun archetype tooth too.

Most people alive today have ancestors whose work was poorly paid,

Unrelenting,

And often unsafe.

Ancestral traumas from slavery,

Indentured service,

Or prison labour can be passed down through genetics and family culture.

The sun archetype can also respond to your dreams,

Both kinds.

Dr Christian Beyer states that the quality of your sleep dreams,

For example,

Persistent nightmares,

Could affect this tooth,

Or poor sleep where you don't get a chance to dream properly.

But I've observed more often that it's your aspirational dreams that get embodied in this tooth when they're frustrated.

This tooth may hold on to suppressed emotions arising from your desire to choose a different career path from the one your family wanted for you.

The sun tooth's symptoms may be calling your attention to ways that you have censored your own dream to avoid disappointing yourself or others.

Or it can be vulnerable to the pain of having pursued your dream wholeheartedly without achieving success,

Especially if other people or unfair circumstances derailed your progress.

It can embody fears that someone will steal your light,

Take your place,

Or get credit for your efforts.

Now,

Let's explore some ways that those themes and relationships can play out as different symptoms on or around the upper right first molar.

Molars generally bear the brunt of bruxism,

Clenching or grinding that can cause cracks,

Chips,

Or even broken teeth.

Being hidden away at the back of the mouth,

Molars might not get the same level of careful daily oral hygiene that front teeth usually do.

So,

There are physical reasons why they are more likely to need dental restorations than most other adult teeth.

But tracing the reason why you have a particular symptom on this tooth and not another may have as much to do with the metaphysical as the physical influences.

When you become aware that this tooth is asking for attention,

It can be helpful to trace the story of your tooth back to its earliest symptoms and first dental interventions.

The upper right first molar may have originally developed a cavity and then been filled when you were a child or teenager.

If you have some archetype issues which remain unresolved,

You may find that an initial filling is followed by subsequent problems continuing for many years.

Symptoms in the upper right first molar can embody the dark side of winning favour as well as missing out on it.

The sun tooth archetype is vulnerable to comparisons which wounded your self-confidence or damaged significant relationships.

For example,

The sun tooth is sensitive to having onerous expectations placed on you as your father's favourite child,

Or from being an outsider with your classmates because you were the teacher's pet.

It's not just your individual experiences which can affect your teeth.

Comparison is the basis of much of the cultures of capitalism,

Colonialism and patriarchy which encourage jostling for status based on economic success,

Intellectual merit or religious conformity and so on.

No matter where you are placed in the hierarchy,

If it means you have to silently tolerate rupture,

Exclusion or failure,

Trauma can get stuck in this tooth.

Seething resentment or shame can fester quietly until the tooth can no longer bear its emotional burden and starts to express symptoms.

For some people,

Chronic sun tooth problems might be embodying struggles relating to the question,

Why was I put on this earth?

If you once believed you should do work that gave your life meaning,

But then you were diverted by economic necessity,

Family obligations,

Health challenges or the distractions of your phone,

Symptoms in your sun tooth may be calling you back to earlier idealism.

If you have always suspected you have a sole purpose,

But second guess yourself,

Don't think you're up to the task or question its value relative to your other priorities,

Then maybe this tooth's problems are reminding you that you wouldn't be called if you don't have what it takes.

You may need to spend some time exploring ideas around some noble employment that feels more meaningful than creating profit for shareholders.

It might be disruptive to pivot and pursue such a calling at this stage,

But perhaps your psyche and your tooth don't care about convenience.

Ultimately,

The sun archetype's relevance for your unique situation could be found by taking a broader view of the archetype's themes,

Perhaps starting with possible interpretations of different kinds of symptoms.

Do any of the following symptom interpretations resonate for you?

Sensitivity.

A suddenly sensitive sun tooth may be responding to a surge of distressing demands at work which trigger old feelings from your childhood.

For example,

A round of redundancies might contain echoes of family ruptures or school cliques.

Or,

A chronically sensitive sun tooth might embody an old pattern of numbing out in order to tolerate bullying or constant unfair criticism.

Instead of unconsciously flinching every time you are in a similar situation,

The emotional pain is shunted inwards to your sun tooth to be felt as physical rather than emotional pain.

Cavities.

Cavities on the sun tooth may indicate that something is missing in relation to your professional life.

According to Dr Christiane Bayer,

Identifying the surface which develops the cavity,

Chip,

Crack or break can provide more clues to its unique meaning for you.

The masseal surface,

Which is the front-facing surface of your upper right first molar,

May embody an internalised fear of disappointing your father,

Perhaps by pursuing a career he disapproves of.

It can hold memories of losing your father's favour when you made independent choices.

This surface can be vulnerable to feeling like you've lost touch with your deepest convictions or abandoned youthful dreams in order to make a living.

The masseal surface can also be affected by the adjacent alliance archetype of tooth number four,

Especially if that second premolar is missing or symptomatic.

The influence of the alliance archetype can make this masseal surface vulnerable to losing a career opportunity or professional momentum because of a traumatic loss.

The distal surface of the sun tooth faces the back of your mouth.

This part of the tooth may carry a fear of not being good enough for your own father or not being able to keep up with the big boys.

It is vulnerable to feeling dissatisfied with yourself and may hold memories,

Ancestral or your own,

Of experiencing parental rejection.

The distal surface may also be affected by the adjacent name tooth archetype,

Especially if that second molar is troubled or extracted.

That could mean the sun molar's distal surface can embody harsh self-criticism,

Perhaps the internalisation of a family member's voice.

You can listen to the name tooth archetype talk as well to learn more about its possible influence on your sun tooth.

The occlusal or chewing surface of the upper right first molar may embody feelings that a sibling got all your parents' attention or that you can never get ahead at work because your boss only notices your colleagues.

It may hold memories of your own or an ancestor's refugee or immigration experiences,

Where it was difficult to integrate into the new country.

This surface can be vulnerable to acting like a supporting character in your own life.

The buccal surface,

On the side of the sun tooth which faces the cheek,

Is vulnerable to feeling as though your professional ideals were undermined by your community or your father's family.

It's vulnerable to losing touch with a dream that reflects your self-image.

The cervical buccal surface,

Which is right along the gum line facing your cheek,

May embody a fear of being a hopeless failure who can never measure up to your father,

A teacher,

Or a coach.

It may hold your own or ancestral memories of being a rebellious child who was rejected by their father.

The lingual surface of the sun tooth,

Which faces the tongue,

May hold memories of the pain caused by a parent's absence.

It can embody old hurts from feeling unable to make yourself heard by your parents.

It is vulnerable to feeling unworthy.

The cervical lingual surface of the upper right first molar,

Which is the gum line facing your tongue,

Is vulnerable to feeling rejected for physical imperfections or a parent's shame about disability.

Root problems.

Tooth roots usually thrive when you feel stable and grounded in your life.

The sun tooth's roots may still carry the emotional effects of your family moving a lot for work when you were young.

The sun's roots may be troubled in your adulthood if your childhood taught you that a rewarding job meant being uprooted from social networks and familiar places,

Or you observed that your parents' work seemed more important than a secure home.

If you've had a root canal in the sun tooth,

Look back to the months or years before that procedure to when you first noticed symptoms or got a cavity filled on that tooth.

At that time,

Were you considering moving for work or education?

If your sun's roots are asking for attention now,

Consider whether there is some echo in your current career of a disruptive professional choice made by your parents when you were young.

Abscesses.

An abscess,

Infection,

Cyst or inflammation on top of the sun tooth may embody suppressed anger about work,

Your father,

Or you know,

The patriarchy in general.

Symptoms of fever,

Pus or pain could be telling you that you need to feel,

Express and release your anger.

Consider whether your symptoms on set coincided with feeling frustration about work culture in conflict with the culture you were raised in or the values of your workplace not being aligned with your personal values.

If you feel outraged with the direction your industry or employer has taken,

Or you feel forced to comply with expectations that were not what you signed up for,

Then this is the tooth that may contain any protests that you don't feel safe to voice.

When you believe it's necessary to tamp down your fury about the machinations of management or co-workers,

That suppressed fury can get stuck in your sun tooth like getting stuck in your craw.

If you've lost your upper right first molar,

I suggest you look to the tooth's prior history rather than trying to interpret its current absence.

The archetype may still be activated by the original influences in ways that affect implants or accelerate bone loss or impact adjacent teeth.

The sun tooth archetype can be thought of as being like a solar battery which stores the energy that powers your work life.

Having the tooth extracted could be part of the process for transitioning away from a career based on old family patterns around work.

Placing an implant could come to represent your commitment to a new career powered by different values.

Think of your implant as a new energy battery for your work life,

Powered sustainably by your values.

Gum symptoms.

Tooth archetypes don't only manifest in the teeth,

They can activate symptoms in the adjacent gum tissue.

The gum tissue over and around the sun tooth may develop symptoms if you've ever felt hurt by a lack of support for your career goals.

Different kinds of gum symptoms may be trying to show you that you are worthy of support.

A gum pocket over the upper right first molar may show up if you've been dishonest about your job in a way that has hurt you,

Especially if you've tried to hide your professional aspirations,

Perhaps even from yourself.

Gingivitis or inflammation localised near this tooth may be responding to shame related to your career or ambitions.

Inflammation in the gums might show up if you've been sexually abused by a teacher at school or been in a sexual relationship considered inappropriate for your workplace.

Gingiva may embody the pain of feeling like your sexual identity or behaviour has limited your career options.

The periodontal ligaments around the sun tooth may embody the stress of code switching between home and school or home and work.

When your workplace has a culture very different from your family,

Or values that conflict with your personal values,

It can feel like a wrench to pass between one context and another.

Contorting yourself back and forth into a different persona twice a day can wear down the flexibility of your periodontal ligament until they are thin and saggy.

Bone loss over the night tooth may be embodying a lack of support if you have missed out on material resources needed for pursuing your professional dreams.

That could look like active discouragement from your family or institutional exclusion on the basis of your identity like racism,

Sexism or ableism.

If you've ever had the bone-deep sense that the career you wanted was not available to people like you,

Your jawbone may have been depleted by fighting hard for your dreams or undermined by giving up on yourself.

So how to work with the sun tooth archetype?

Supporting your sun tooth,

Or the place where it would be,

May benefit from re-evaluating the origins of your relationship with work.

The sun tooth may be asking you to reassess your career by looking back to the ways you learned about work from grown-ups when you were a kid,

Especially from the main breadwinner in your family.

You might be surprised at how much your work ethic now was influenced by what you picked up before you entered the workforce yourself.

Your tooth may respond well to therapeutic approaches which guide you to explore vocation,

Life purpose or authenticity in your career.

You could try using meditation,

Journaling,

Artistic expression or other self-healing practices to consider questions like.

.

.

When you were a child,

Did you get the impression that work was a reliable,

If dull,

Escape from chaos at home?

Or did your parents' jobs strike you as exhausting,

Exploitative,

Draining,

Dangerous,

Restrictive or humiliating?

Or did you learn at a young age that work could be exciting,

Glamorous and intellectually or socially stimulating?

Did you want to follow in your parents' career footsteps,

Or were you inspired to break free of the family business?

Do you feel you can never live up to your parents' professional achievements or reputation?

How much of your education and career path was influenced by your family and how much of it aligns with your own sense of meaningful,

Rewarding work?

Another way to work with the sun archetype is to meditate on your life's purpose or karmic mission and how that overlaps,

If it does,

With what you do or could do for a living.

The sun archetype can embody blocks or struggles relating to your sole purpose,

Higher calling or any sense of why you were put on this earth.

You can offer this tooth support by exploring ways to manifest your sense of purpose,

Whether or not that can happen within your workplace.

Is there a book you could write,

Something to teach or someone to mentor?

Can you contribute to union organising or is there a whistle that needs to be blown?

Is it time to pursue a promotion or a new skill set?

What can you do to tweak or transform your work life to make it feel more aligned with your values and most authentic identity?

The sun tooth doesn't necessarily demand a career change,

Although that might be what it takes to heal this tooth.

Rather,

Tooth archetypes can be supported by expressing what has been suppressed and revealing what has been hidden.

Material changes,

While sometimes necessary,

Are not usually as important to healing teeth archetypes as feeling,

Expressing and releasing any energy flow that has been blocked by painful emotions.

In traditional Chinese medicine,

The upper molars and lower premolars are associated with the stomach and spleen meridians.

Any meridian-based therapy such as acupuncture,

Reflexology or EFT could support the energy flow to and from the sun tooth or the site where the tooth would be.

The stomach and spleen meridians are considered earth elements which represent confidence,

Harmony and satisfaction.

So make space in your life to encourage those kinds of feelings.

Now here are some suggestions of symbols that you can use in ritual,

On altars or in any creative practices where you want to represent your sun archetype to support your upper right first molar.

The colour red orange.

A symbol of the sun or of late summer.

Images or objects that represent your family's business or parent's profession.

Images or objects that represent your career aspirations.

A picture of your father or an archetypal father figure.

Apollo or another traditional god or goddess figure that has meaning for you.

Dr Michelle Kafan associates this tooth with centaurs,

The astrological planet of Mercury and the mineral sulphur.

I associate the sun tooth archetype with the tarot card the Hierophant.

I'd like to finish up with another sun archetype themed father son story from Greek mythology.

This one about young Icarus and his father Daedalus.

Daedalus had a brilliant career as a sculptor and inventor who spent some time working for King Minos on the island of Crete.

Eventually Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned by the king in a high tower by the sea,

Long story.

Desperate to escape their prison tower Daedalus invented wax wings and he made two pairs so they could both fly away across the ocean.

Like Helios the sun god,

Daedalus tried to tell his son to take the work of flying seriously.

Icarus,

He said,

If you fly too low the wings will get wet and drag you down into the sea.

But if you fly too high then you'll get burned by the sun.

So just follow me and stick to the safety of the middle way.

But Icarus was reckless and adventurous.

In the thrill of being able to fly he forgot to be careful and he neglected to follow his father.

He started flying higher and higher just because he could.

By the time Daedalus noticed,

Icarus was so close to the sun that his wax wings had started to melt and he plummeted down into the sea and drowned.

The sun tooth is nourished by idealism,

Primarily the hopes and dreams you had as a young person for your own meaningful adult work.

The sun archetype could be represented by that classic question every kid hears,

What do you want to be when you grow up?

The answer,

Including ballerina and astronaut fantasies,

Is the spirit with which a young child pictures a possible future of agency and enjoyment while making a meaningful contribution as well as a living.

Society tries to limit access to a rewarding,

Enjoyable professional life according to gender,

Class and ethnicity,

As well as physical and neurological differences and so on.

When your sun tooth asks for attention,

It may be a mirror of how you responded to others aspirations for your future.

The sun tooth may be embodying your feelings about whether you conformed with or rebelled against those expectations and the outcomes of your real life career choices.

Because I'm assuming you're listening to this as an adult,

Your sun tooth has had a chance to see how your career is actually going.

The archetype shines its light into any dusty corners of your psyche which have been neglected while you were busy running the rat race.

The sun archetype may present symptoms that invite you to step back from the day-to-day concerns of making a living,

To consider the bigger picture of why you chose to do what you do and whether that is still a good enough reason.

At every stage and variation of the life of your upper right first molar's presence or absence in your mouth,

The sun tooth archetype can be a valuable partner in your wellbeing.

Your unique healing story about the sun tooth archetype reflecting your background,

Body and inner life matters more than any descriptions I've shared today.

Trust what your intuition says about this tooth.

Use my ideas and suggestions just as much as is helpful to get started in telling your own unique healing story.

Then I invite you to come and share it in the Secret Lives of Teeth discussion group on Insight Timer.

I want to know what you are working on.