Can you play flute with false teeth?

19 Jan 05 - 01:14 AM (#1382011)
Subject: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: hesperis

I really, REALLY need to know.

The upper tooth just fractured some more and the rest of it probably won't last until I can get to a dentist, because I can't afford to get to a dentist in the US and the free clinic here told me to go back to Canada. One of the two lower temporaries on the other side came out, so I've got a huge hole there too. At least the lower ones have HAD root canals.

I'm going back to Canada on monday, and hoping that they'll allow my husband into the country even just in order to drive me to a free clinic... somewhere. I don't know what I'll do if they don't allow him in but now we have no option but to try.

I was hoping it'd last long enough for me to actually make a way of earning money enough to take care of things but apparently it won't. I had a quote of $3000 three years ago and have had one root canal and one replacement temporary since then. So what with the new cavities that have developed it's probably still around about that price to actually take care of all the cavities... I didn't have that kind of money and now I'm paying for it in another way.

If you can play flute and possibly other wind or brass instruments with falsies, then I might at least be able to busk and earn money for food... The government would actually pay for the false teeth if you're poor enough or so I heard...

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19 Jan 05 - 02:01 AM (#1382023)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Peace

Flute No real teeth pressure, very light support to the lips.

Hesperis, I don't play flute but I found this on the www with a google of flute. false teeth.

I had my tops removed years back--got tired of dental expenses to keep my real ones (after an accident many years back). Once you're used to the teeth (plate), you shouldn't have a problem. Takes a month to get used to dentures. However, keep your lowers no matter what, because they just balance on the bottom. The uppers are held in place with suction. (Too difficult to explain here.)

Tha short answer is, "Yes." Good luck at the border, gal.

Bruce M

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19 Jan 05 - 02:36 AM (#1382037)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: hesperis

Thank you!

I guess I could always get the real expensive screwed-into-the-bone false teeth once I've started making a living, eh?

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19 Jan 05 - 03:12 AM (#1382042)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Boab

I do rim-shots on the bodhran wi' mine---
[I'm off to bed!]

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19 Jan 05 - 03:16 AM (#1382044)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Davetnova

most good fixative pastes, Dentugrip and the like, will hold afull set, bottoms too, for three to four hours. I'm really glad I got all my done for free while dentists still worked for the NHS.

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19 Jan 05 - 04:18 AM (#1382064)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: The Fooles Troupe

I didn't know that you could get false teeth for flutes - I'll swap mine anyday!

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19 Jan 05 - 07:50 AM (#1382174)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Dave Hanson

The answer is no, false teeth count as a percussion instrument.

eric

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19 Jan 05 - 08:03 AM (#1382180)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: The Fooles Troupe

"I had my tops removed years back" -- Hmmmm, topless flute players...

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19 Jan 05 - 08:31 AM (#1382198)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Schantieman

I should've thought fingers were better

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19 Jan 05 - 12:19 PM (#1382385)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: fat B****rd

No, but hum a few bars and I'll wing it........

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19 Jan 05 - 02:36 PM (#1382446)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,smiler

I can't play it with real teeth, so it would be interesting if I could with false ones.

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19 Jan 05 - 06:31 PM (#1382659)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: The Fooles Troupe

Maybe if I buy a pack of Tampons I'll be able to play the flute as well as waterski...

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20 Jan 05 - 10:30 AM (#1383195)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: KateG

Yes. I knocked out a front top tooth when I was 10, it was wired back in place. Took up the flute the next year, and have continued to play off and on through a variety of temporary and permanant replacements. Slight embouchure adjusts were required with each change, but nothing major.

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20 Jan 05 - 10:35 AM (#1383197)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Peace

The nice thing about false teeth is that you can brush 'em and eat at the same time.

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20 Jan 05 - 10:59 AM (#1383224)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,John from Hull

I can play my false teeth with my flute

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20 Jan 05 - 12:27 PM (#1383303)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: jimmyt

The flute should be the easiest instrument to handle with dentures. The embouchere for flute is either passive or actually holding the dentures in place while playing. Unlike many other instruments, most brass, clarints, etc that would be much more difficult to negotiate. So, the long and short of it, if you can avoid getting an upper denture you should try very hard not to have this as your only option, but if it happens, you should be fine with flute playing. I completely agree with Brucie though, do not get in a situation where you need a lower denture. The lower denture is at best a poor substitute for even a few natural teeth.

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20 Jan 05 - 01:05 PM (#1383351)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: hesperis

Unfortunately the lower teeth are much worse than the top ones, although it was a top one that broke. Damn. I can't actually afford to fix them yet.

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22 Jan 05 - 09:14 AM (#1385129)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Bill the Collie

Please ensure false teeth placed inside mouth before attempting this.
Otherwise you just look silly.

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22 Jan 05 - 12:44 PM (#1385284)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: *Laura*

I could still play when I had my traintrack braces a few years ago. And when my front tooth was knocked out and shoved back in!

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01 Aug 10 - 04:41 AM (#2956020)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST

I had my teeth completely removed and have had dentures for about 9 months. I played flute for nearly 30 years prior. Dentures are NO comparison to braces, a missing tooth, crowns, or implants!!! My daughter is going into grade 6 band in the fall and I thought I would start teaching her, but found when I picked up my flute that my fingers still worked like magic but that my mouth had an evil spell cast on it!! I can't even make a sound!! My problem is actually the top plate as it goes around the outside front of my gums causing less space there and more tightness of my lips therefore causing me to not be able to get an aumbouchure to blow with downward pressure into the mouthpiece. I am utterly devastated as playing flute has been my life!!! Will continue to try, but I am the first to say it will NEVER be even close to what it was. No more beautiful music for me!

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01 Aug 10 - 07:22 AM (#2956066)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: skarpi

Guest ....you can flute again , you just need to practice every day
many times a day you will play well again I know , just practice and have faith ..thats all you need don´t give up , yes you can flute


all the best Skarpi Iceland .

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01 Aug 10 - 07:51 AM (#2956078)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Sandra in Sydney

Guest, hesperis who started this thread doesn't post regularly these days, but did put out another flute album sometime after the dental treatment.

If you want get a list of hesperis's posts, click on hesperis in the FROM line.

As Skarpi said, keep practicing, & best wishes from me, too

sandra

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01 Aug 10 - 08:02 AM (#2956079)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Bernard

It takes a while to get back to the sound you originally had, and some days you'll find the 'old memory' kicks in... very annoying!

It really depends upon how long you'd been playing before getting the new teeth - in my case, forty years!

The best bit, though, is when you pick the flute up and it suddenly sounds right for the first time in ages!

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01 Aug 10 - 04:29 PM (#2956290)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: open mike

i have seen a flute player who had to use a brace to hold up the instrument because his finger had been injured (or lost?) in an auto
wreck. He had invented a holder so that the flute could be supported despite not being able to do so with his hand. Come to think of it,
I think it was his thumb that needed support, I think he was able
to finger all the notes...at any rate, he was able to adapt, and I hope
Hesperis was, too. (I hope she is o.k. these days, I know she went thru a "rough patch" awhile back.)

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02 Aug 10 - 04:02 AM (#2956525)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity

Play with your teeth??...I think you'd have better luck using your fingers!..They're more dexterous, too!!

Imagine!
GfS

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14 Jul 11 - 12:15 PM (#3187523)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,guest 2

I have been playing for 17 yrs. Just received dentures both upper and lower, when I practiced flute I was like Guest no sound and after much practice I have no problems with the lower registers however the upper registers are throwing me fits because of the upper dentures trying to get the embouchure is painful. I finally decided to put down my flute.

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14 Jul 11 - 06:17 PM (#3187785)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Mo the caller

How about playing without the false teeth?

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14 Jul 11 - 07:36 PM (#3187875)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Bernard

Sheesh, Mo! Thatsh a shilly idea!!

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14 Jul 11 - 08:08 PM (#3187890)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: olddude

heck why not, I play my guitar with false talent :-)

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14 Jul 11 - 10:29 PM (#3187955)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: dick greenhaus

Sure. A jews harp can present problems, though

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14 Jul 11 - 10:48 PM (#3187964)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey

On a serious note - no pun intended.

Seamus Tansey had problems over this but was funded by Michael Flatley (Riverdance) for an expensive teeth job and certainly went on to perform magnificently on the flute.

I suppose it depends on how seriously you want to play and ano domini?

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15 Jul 11 - 05:39 PM (#3188458)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,999

The real test is can you eat corn on the cob.

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15 Jul 11 - 10:46 PM (#3188583)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Bee-dubya-ell

No, the real test is can you throw a cast net without having to go overboard and retrieve your teeth.

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15 Jul 11 - 10:46 PM (#3188584)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Bee-dubya-ell

No, the real test is can you throw a cast net without having to go overboard and retrieve your teeth.

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30 Apr 12 - 05:34 PM (#3345422)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Mike Gingold

I play flute and sax. Upper dentures are no problem at all (use adhesive if you have to). Bottom dentures are another matter - if they move about you will have a serious problem maintaining a steady embouchure. I saved up and got implants (in Budapest) and now can play flute with no problems (and also eat whatever I fancy!)

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30 Apr 12 - 06:50 PM (#3345442)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST

I think you can play the flute with false teeth but there's no black notes. :-)

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12 Feb 14 - 10:40 AM (#3600731)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Tootinflutin

You people who are making light of this are idiots. Of course, it lets us see just how stupid and boorish you are.

For the people affected, it is serious.

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12 Feb 14 - 11:08 AM (#3600746)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Jack Campin

I have a partial denture - not many upper teeth left. Also have my lips cut across by multiple operation scars for a cleft lip and palate. I'm not the greatest on the flute but I can do it. I find alto flute easier than the normal size. Latest thing I've picked up is the dizi (D soprano size, or G in Chinese nomenclature) and I haven't found any insuperable problem with that, though the high notes aren't really there yet.

So - I'm affected and it's not serious.

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13 Dec 23 - 06:31 PM (#4193514)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Guest

This absolutely IS a serious matter for those of us who have lost teeth. It requires a perfect embouchure to play the flute with any degree of self respect. For those of us who, for whatever reason, have lost teeth, this presents a truly devastating obstacle. I cried many, many times because I could no longer play. I was a semi-professional.

Just because there are some, like Jack Campin, who seems to believe that because HE, PERSONALLY, didn't experience this, that no one else does either, doesn't make him the gold standard for what you should expect after dental removal.

To those who offer suggestions and understanding, Thank You! Music was my life for many years, and to have that taken from me felt like the death of a loved one. I'm wondering if there is something similar to a dental protector that is worn by athletes, that a flute player could pop in prior to a practice or concert, that would give him/her a reliable support as an embouchure. It wouldn't have to be expensive, like implants. Just a molded piece of (whatever that stuff is they use for dentures) or a slightly softer material that would offer some "give" depending on the octave needed for good tone. Anyone?

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15 Dec 23 - 03:00 PM (#4193628)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Brian May

It was my belief you had to blow rather than bite the flute . . . just sayin'

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17 Dec 23 - 07:58 PM (#4193789)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST

Didgeridoo anyone???

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23 Dec 23 - 07:52 PM (#4194183)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Jack Campin

I had quite a different route to flute playing than the anonymous person up there. I have a bilateral cleft lip and palate, which has meant a great many plastic surgery operations since birth. At 12 I had the most cosmetically dramatic one, an "Abbé flap", where a Y-shaped chunk of my lower lip was rotated and stitched into my upper lip (which involved three weeks with ny lips sewn together in the middle). This left a lump of scar tissue in the middle of my lower lip. I got that trimmed off at 16, but decided to learn the flute before that. I just loved the sound and was going to do what it took.

At the same time, I was getting another consequence of the cleft fixed. My two top front teeth are on a stump of bone which is not connected to my upper jaw at either side, and one of then erupted at right angles, with the edge pointing fore and aft inside of side to side. So an orthodontist rotated it into place with a clamp and a large spring wire across the front of my teeth. That took a few months to twist it round.

So: I didn't start with normal dentition and then learn to adjust to it going wrong. It was drastically fucked up from the get-go.

I also learned the clarinet, years later. Because the plastic surgery never quite managed to seal the cleft, the pressure inside my mouth when playing blows saliva out of my nose. I can stop that by sealing over it with a piece of denture fixative sheet held in place by my upper denture.

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27 Dec 23 - 12:03 PM (#4194330)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: GUEST,Guest

I really think you need to use your fingers. False teeth won't cover the flute's openings.

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28 Dec 23 - 10:24 AM (#4194389)
Subject: RE: Can you play flute with false teeth?
From: Jack Campin

I forgot to mention the extractions - the teeth either side of my upper incisors went very early (can't remember exactly when, but one of them couldn't be anaesthetized because the nerves don't follow the usual paths). Missing the teeth wasn't very relevant but the kind of denture I had was. The plastic denture I started with made tonguing clumsy (and affected my speech), it was much better after moving to a thin metal one.

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