At age 72 I'm still able to do most of the things I did 30 years ago. I can still get on stage and perform for crowds of any size, have lots of fun singing to the ladies, and I really enjoy interacting with my audiences. Granted, I'm not as strong as I was 30 years ago, but I can still sail a 33-foot boat single-handed, still do loads of lawn and garden work around the house, but some of the body parts are just shot to hell.

After a couple heart attacks, two stents, and suffering the effects of Lyme Disease and Asbestosis of the lung, you come to the stark realization that all those body parts have a limited life span. About a decade ago, I had a nasty sinus infection that tried to turn into infectious meningitis. As a result, I lost all my molars, and the incisors became very brittle and began breaking off. I'm now to the point where dentures will soon be needed, probably in the next month or two, at least for the upper teeth. My greatest fear is this will effect my vocal ability, but I'm just not sure if this will indeed happen.

I know a few good singers on the forum have dentures, and I've talked with a couple on the telephone. I'm hoping to make the transition to dentures without problems, but this scares me more than the heart attacks.

Any input would be greatly appreciated, even if you decide not to post it. You can email me at travlin_easy@verizon.net

Thanks,

Gary

Lost my upper front teeth playing basketball FORTY years ago. Didn't make me sing any worse!
DonM

I can't give any advice but I can say that I really admire all that you do- the performancing, sailing, handy work, knowledge about the keyboards and helpfull bussiness tips. As I've said before, you are one of my heros! Best wishes to you my friend.

Gary ... I took the liberty of asking my favorite dentist - our SON - about this ... he said you may have a period of adjustment because of having a 'plate' over your palate, and you may have to 're-learn' how to pronounce some words, but other than that there should not be any major problems ... no changing of your vocal 'tone' or anything like that ...
Of course, the better option would be implants, but most likely you would need for YOUR son to be a dentist - $$$ -
And if you need a good dentist, Mamaroneck NY isn't THAT far from Bal'more ...

Best of luck, whatever you do ...

i've had dentures (upper and lower) for the last 15 years. best thing i've ever done due to neglected care, my health actually improved (less gum and teeth infections) . i've had 3 heart attacks, triple by pass, cancer, fatty liver and as my med team says "you have a host of issues" .you will have to listen to your self enunciate your words when you sing (try recording your singing to tweak your style) other than that no major problems will happen. best of luck , you'll be glad you did it. at 72 be proud of the fact that you are still performing. i'm 65 and i miss it. i stopped playing 6 years ago.

Gary,

I numerous root canals only to have the tooth explode within a month and finally decided to get those things the hell out of my mouth - I had to go to three separate dentist before I could find one willing to pull what they thought were perfectly good teeth.

But, I told them that I was done suffering the pain of root canals, infected gums, and the amount of money it all cost. and that I would take a hammer and knock them out if they wouldn't do the job.

I also had my dentist make the upper plate before he pulled the teeth so i could put it in the same day. He shuddered to thing about doing that, but I am so glad I did because those teeth still fit perfectly 20 years later and I can still eat corn on the cob.

Bill G

Wow! Thanks guys for both the online comments and to those that took the time to email me. I feel a lot less apprehensive about the upcoming events. The dentist did say everything would take place in a single day and that I should not have a problem. Of course, the cardiologist that put the first stent in said "You'll never have problem with this stent because It's chemically treated so it can never clog." WRONG! It clogged in less than 3 years.

Thanks again everyone,

Gary

No one knew my mom had a false upper plate until it came out in a conversation.

DonM

...the subject, I hope!

Good health to all of you, friends!

I think implants would be the way to go but they are costly. You can have just four put on the lower jaw and then the whole set of teeth anchored to them. the upper is similiar.
I have just two and recently just had my second one done and choose it over a bridge which I felt would cause more problems later on. I got my first one years ago when it was a new procedure done only by surgeons and its been trouble free.
Good luck with whatever you choose and congrats for hanging in there playing so long.

I am also 72 and have had full upper and lowers for thirty years. The consensus of many dentists I have talked to over the years is that nothing works as well as your natural teeth(assuming you have them).

However, if you must go to false teeth, get good quality as those will resist stains and last longer. The second thing is that a well fitted upper plate,in most cases, will not be a problem without fasteners and adhesives. The bottom denture is a different story. Implants or a partial anchored to your eye teeth e.g., will be needed somewhere down the line. I agree that a partial is a pain in that it catches food particles and is harder to clean.

Talked withe dentist yesterday afternoon, and he's talking about a snap device that would anchor the upper denture in place - not posts. The posts are $3,500 each here, which would translate to $14,000 just for the posts. Then add another $3,500 for the dentures themselves, plus some ancillary costs and we're up to $20,000. The snap devices, which resemble tiny canvas snaps, are far less expensive, don't require an oral surgeon to insert them, and provide excellent holding. Another six weeks and I'll, hopefully, be done with all this.

Gary

My dad was a trumpet player and he had dentures from his early 50's. He never had any problems playing with them. He could also eat corn on the cob, bite into apples, ect.

Joe

Gary,

You could fly down here to Alabama and get that work done and fly back for about a tenth of what your dentist??? is charging you.

And our dentist are very good down here no matter what folks think about the rest of us. ;-)

Bill G

Billy, I talked with a couple guys that had the procedure done in one day in North Carolina, cost them about $1,500 for everything and they were back to work the next day. Of course, they didn't have to sing, but you're right, it's a lot less expensive in the sunny south.

Gary

I just completed work on a video and training materials used to train people how to provide oral healthcare to senior citizens in nursing homes.

In conjunction with a professor of dentistry at the university of Kentucky, we developed a product to be used by dental and nursing schools and nursing homes.

For those of you who play in nursing homes, I'd be really surprised if you EVER saw any oral health care procedures being done.

Statistics say that poor health care leads to things like pneumonia, a leading cause of death in nursing homes.

The final product is being used by nursing programs and other health care institutions across the country.

It's no surprise that nursing homes aren't interested....it would cost them MONEY to hire and train an oral health care worker. And MONEY is the bottom line.

There is some interest by the state of Kentucky (Commonwealth, actually). There is a funded offshoot of the original project which will be conducted, and, if we can prove that incidents of oral health care related illnesses can be reduced, that means a reduction in the cost of state-funded Medicaid.

Sadly, even here, the "BUCKS" are what matters. Even so, if the end result is better oral health procedures, THAT'S GOOD!

A word to many of us who are reaching or already at senior status. Take the time to do preventative oral care.

You'll be BETTER and healthier for the effort.


Russ (on my stump, AGAIN) Lay

I have 2 implants (Upper) definitely the way to go. They are rock

solid, just clip your dentures on to them. They will be

expensive but very reliable. Singing will be fine and better

still you will have now problem with

those steaks from the BBQ.

Frank