I had an anxiety attack today...

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Hi guys! For the past year or so (maybe a little bit more) now I have had this weird fear of my teeth falling out. I have great dental hygiene. I am 21 and have only had 1 cavity. Now I know, I know this is not about my teeth, it is about the anxiety and autism. I am high functioning autism. I keep getting these anxiety/worrying attacks and keep touching my teeth to the point where my teeth actually hurt... but my gums look healthy, and the teeth look fine. I have myself convinced my two front teeth are going to fall out. All day today I was pacing back and forth on and off. So what I did to solve this, was, (I try not to take medications unless necessary)< I have Xanax as needed, I took the dose as needed, and about an hour, maybe a little less later I am a lot less worried, they don't "hurt". I am now able to pay attention to other things. I wish I can find a way to never have this whole "tooth loss" thing happen again, but it happens every darn day... some days worse than others. I;m finding when I'm bored it gets worse. I know of the whole thing where you convince yourself your body is hurt when it's not, and since I am obsessive about this, I think this is the case. My mom says the teeth look fine, and again, so did the Dentist when I was going through the same exact sever thing back in March... I actually was afraid to go get my cleaning, I switched dentist (was afraid as heck of my old one... went to a new one), nothing was wrong! How can I convince myself everything is okay? What are some techniques? I also need to stop licking, touching and prodding my teeth and gums! That doesn't help at all! I hope this is in the right category... I don't think this belongs in the psychology part, because I am not mentally ill... I have been told I am not mentally ill, I just worry and sometimes get very anxious a lot. Anyway, any light you guys can shine on this one or similar stories? Thanks! (Feeling a bit better now)... and tired a little bit!

Do you think it would help to just try touching them or rubbing them lightly with your tongue instead? I think if you did that you would feel that they are still very well attached and it would not hurt. You could also do that very discreetly and you could do it all day long and it would be very natural. Perhaps give that a go. Maybe gradually switch from touching them with your fingers and try your tongue a few times and then maybe every other time until you only touch them with your tongue and then gradually do that less and less. But at least with your tongue you don't have to keep sticking your fingers in your mouth and you can gently push and pull on them that way too so that you are confident that they are not moving.