Posted by Maurice Plummer on February 13, 2001 at 12:03:37:
In Reply to: Dentures and Tuba Playing posted by Chuck Jackson on February 12, 2001 at 21:40:22:
I am not a dentist, just my personal experiance on the subject.
I have a complete upper denture due to an accident years ago. I remove my lower partical when I play; got to keep nine teeth across the front so I have no experience with a complete lower but here goes anyway. Number one, get a good set of teeth made that fit tight without adhesives. During the fitting the dentist should work with you as you pronounce constanants while he removes small amounts on material from the roof of the denture to insure that you can speak clearly. An important step because that peice of plastic across the roof of the mouth will interfere with tonguing. The thinner the better. Once the teeth are in, it should require some effort to break them loose for removal.
Having teeth with same shape as the originals, at least in my case made little or no difference (25 year gap in playing), there will be problems though. He/She will become much more sensitive to a stuffy horn, poor mouthpiece, it hurts when you blow the teeth loose. Thing like tripple tonguing will probably be frustrating at first. Large shifts in range will take some practice due to movement in the denture. A good strong low register down to the pedal and below will require air flow management, brute force won't work. Range need not suffer though, on a good day I'm good from pedal 'G' to the 'G' above middle 'C'. Consistancy may suffer, mine did and still does to some extent but practice helps.
Now as far as the lower denture goes, my father has a full set of dentures and in his mid 70's. He is able to pick up my horn and play but after 50 years he has little interest. He also has very little bone left on the lower jaw so the lower denture just floats and causes him some pain. If he/she has enough bone on the lower jaw then things might work out. Even if there is not enough bone to support implants, there may be enough to support and anchor system. I suppose that it would be possible to use some form of adhesive on the lower jaw to help but that stuff might also gum up the horn.
Hope this helps...... Sorry for rambling on.