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All I want for Christmas is my three front teeth!

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Rogerb

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Many of you will be too young to recall the similarly-titled novelty song which was a hit in , I believe, 1949!!
(Wikipedia: "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" is a novelty Christmas song written in 1944 by Donald Yetter Gardner").

Well, following a flying accident when I was in the AirForce, I have 3 top front teeth on a dental bridge ....which has just fallen-out...again :crying: As always with these things, it happened on a Friday, so nothing to be done unttil Monday, and then the usual delays! I don't think it can just be 'glued back in' this time :(

I can just about play a bit, by tucking the mpc in the corner of my mouth....as some of the greats have done.....maybe it's the breakthrough I need ? :))) My fangs are playing havoc with the mpc pads!!

But no band practice for a while, and ....on the positive side.....savings on the lessons I can't attend!

I wonder if I should eventually get a 'toothguard' made , to cushion my new dental work from the presssur & vibration of playing ???
Does anyone else have artificial top front teeth ...does is cause you any problems?
 
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First impressions, kev, of playing like this is that I am actually getting a better sound!!! I seem to have a bettter 'hold on the mpc with my natural teeth on that side, and more 'control' as a result.
It's probably an illusion, based on my not having played for a while, as I was in UK before coming back to this 'incident'!
I do like the feeling of my top teeth being firmly(not 'bitingly'!) in contact with the mpc.

I have to be careful not to damage my upper lip(or the mpc!) with the metal post to which the bridge was attached at one end!

(Doesn't Dave Sanborne play with the piece in the corner of his mouth? :) )
 
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I started with a double embouchure, cos I couldn't get comfortable with my teeth on the mouthpiece. So it's easy for me, but doesn't work for everyone. I'm not sure about sound. BUt my teacher reckons it's coming on well, so who am I to argue? Good luck with the repairs.
 
I had most of my top crowns before I started playing, and think perhaps it's the fact that I do play that holds the two very front ones in place, in that the pressure on the top of the mouthpiece keeps them firmly jammed tight in there. One of them is a post crown and is a lot tighter in place than the other post crown, further along. The latter is always falling out and I've made the momentous decision to go for a denture.

Now this is one big step for me, worrying that I will face the dilemma of uncomfortable dentures vs toothless hag, but I've spoken to lots of people older and (more importantly) younger than me who have reassured me it's nothing to worry about, especially with a dentist like mine. So now I'm worrying about the actual extraction of the root. Last time I had a tooth out under a local, years ago, it broke and there was a lot of painful digging out. My dentist has said this op will involve quite a bit of too, but that I won't feel a thing. I think I trust her - she's never hurt me yet. So we're going for it over the summer, when I won't have much to do in the way of concerts or practices.

I'm told by a private dentist friend who treats musicians that I may well need to adjust my embouchure, but that I shouldn't experience any major problems. Therefore I watch threads like this very closely. I will keep you in touch with developments.
 
I think the answer is to get 3 crowns implanted. The work may take a year in total (3 or 4 seperate visits) and cost a lot but then you will be left with an upper set that is stronger than natural teeth. I have a front crown and it has always felt natural
 
Are you talking implants here, or post-crowns? I suspect the former as they are mega-expensive (or I would have them) and stronger. A friend has them and is very pleased with them, although she had to have injections of some sort beforehand because her jawbone was shrinking.
 
2 1/2 grand is bang on for the cost of implants. I thought about it a while ago. I have a crown and a three tooth denture on top, and a five tooth denture below. The problem is that implants only work well if you have no underlying problems. In my case, my gums are pretty poor, so implants might not last.

Roger, a decent bridge should stand up to sax playing. Might not hold up for bare knuckle boxing, but should be fine for sax playing as there's no pressure in the weaker plane. Just get the bridge rebuilt from scratch, done well it should be fine. If done well it should make no difference to a player's embouchure either. When I first had mine done I had a cheapo NHS plastic denture. It was too thick to play comfortably, and I used to remove it for playing. Now I have a high quality one, fitted privately for the top, NHS cheapo for the bottom. The expensive one is chromium/cobalt alloy, very comfortable and I can play with teeth in just as well as when I had my own. Cost about £600, so not cheap but a damned sight cheaper than implants.

I've always been scared of dentists, but have one now who I can trust. She knows I play sax and that I'm an anxious patient, and she is very accommodating of my requirements.
 
Thanks Jon....my usual dentist quoted 1700 Euros for an 'extended' bridge the last time this happened .... removing the last remaining top front and anchoring the bridge to the two strong canines.
I am going to take 'other opinions' but I don't want to have to wait TOO long.
 
If this was a flying accident, surely the RAF should pay for the ongoing repairs.

Implants are a rip-off. A local dentist pays other dentists in his practice a LARGE commission if they convince a patient to have one. It would easily cover a top end BW..... So you can guess just how much he's pocketing himself.
 
Rogerb said:
Does anyone else have artificial top front teeth ...does is cause you any problems?
Click to expand...

Both my centre top teeth are crowned, but from your message, I guess that's not what you mean.
The cause was a roller-skating accident when I was 12 years and 30 days (it's imprinted in my brain forever) I ran into some one else and kissed the floor, front teeth first, snapping both teeth in half.
Back to your question, though - I still have stumps of my own teeth and the crowns are well and truly attached to them. I have a fairly thick rubber pad on my mouthpiece as I found that with anything thinner, low notes caused an horrific vibration through my top teeth and into my skull - most unpleasant.
One of my teeth has a live nerve and the other is dead, so I tend to push the mouthpiece up unevenly as I can only feel one side of it. Sometimes this causes some discomfort on the one side, but nothing as unpleasant as you have described.
The current crowns were well over 1500 euro for the pair, paid for (most kindly) by my ex-husband's health insurance (as we were only separated at the time, apparently I was still covered) Fortunately, 10 years down the line, they are hanging on in there, (looks for a piece of wood!)
Co-incidentally, my oldest daughter broke one of her front teeth, 30 years to the exact date later, while playing netball at school. Dentistry has moved on - it took my dentist 4+ years to restore my pearly whites to something approaching normal, it took her dentist about 45 minutes!
 
Update: having decided to go for the 1460 Euro quote, 'cos the dentist impressed me with his professionalism (and I've been there previously), I paid half and had 2 1/2 hours in the chair, preparing and taking impressions and then having a temp bridge fitted until 29th. It wasn't the most pleasant, but pain-free. Now I have to go carefully with the temps for a coupla weeks ....am trying to avoid the sax!(not always successfully).
Fingers crossed :)
 

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