Why You’re Freaking Out About Your Teeth

In the stress of a pandemic, minor ailments suddenly seem terrifying

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The following is a brief and incomplete list of innocuous bodily sensations that have recently freaked me out:

• A burning in my thigh that I assumed was a blood clot, having temporarily forgotten I was stung by a bee in that exact spot a few hours earlier.
• A rash on my eyelid that I was briefly convinced was a chemical burn from off-brand hand sanitizer (this is what happens when you touch your face!) but was actually a little patch of poison ivy.
• A soreness in my jaw that I was sure was osteomyelitis, an infection brought on by ignoring my dentist’s suggestion to remove my wisdom teeth six months ago. It took me a few days to realize how tightly I was clenching my jaw every time I read a new report about surface transmission or antibodies.

With conversations about sickness — and fear of sickness — unrelenting in the news and daily life, I’ve found myself on extra-high alert, vigilantly monitoring all the ways my body just feels “off.” Each new itch or ache triggers its own new spiral of worry as I convince myself I need to see a doctor and then anxiously weigh the pros and cons of going to a doctor’s office in the middle of a pandemic.