I know, I know… it sounds weird, but today I got to really wondering about this. Here’s why. I have this situation where the enamel on my two front teeth are rather severely eroding. I’ve seen several dentists and all their reasons why don’t exactly fit. Today, while playing the whistle I noticed how I do, rather often, bump my two top front teeth on the fipple. Hence I got to wondering if this could be the reason for the ruined enamel.
So folks, has anyone else had this problem, after years of playing the whistle? It would be really helpful to hear from you if you have (OK everyone: check your front teeth right now!).
I tend to put my upper lip between my tooth and the whistle sometimes, which makes the skin on my lip get raw if I’ve been playing certain whistles! Never had problems biting the actual whistle, though. I try to pay attention to what I’m doing and avoid doing that lately, though.
I never eroded a tooth, but I did once chip one of my front teeth on a goldie low F. Not from biting, but from accidentally getting a bit too into the reel I was playing and giving my tooth a knock.
Interesting… so what I’m referring to is not about biting the whistle. I’m talking about (rather lightly) hitting or tapping the whistle against the front teeth. Has anyone discovered they have eroding enamel on their front teeth, and that it may be linked to accidentally tapping the whistle on them when they play?
Though the tap is light, I’ve been playing the whistle for a long time… so that’s a lot of taps!
I’m not sure I could say something here, because I play whistle just about a year.
When I play on whistle, I don’t usually touching the teeth by fipple. It happened to me just once and it was an accident (with low whistle).
I probably play whistle similar, if not same, as Sirchronique - if, and only if, I push whistle into, a lips between fipple and teeth avoids touching teeth with fipple.
Second thing is, that I have mouth a bit opened (mouth, not lips), so fipple can probably pass through without touching the teeth.
Right, the beak of the whistles should not be touching your teeth. The beak should rest on the lips just enough to deliver the air to the windway. There is no reason to grip the beak tightly with the lips or the teeth. It should be a more relaxed interface IME. More like a kiss really. And I, like kmarty, also tend to play a bit slack-jawed so the jaws are open and the teeth are well out of the way (should someone consciously or inadvertently smack my whistle or should I fall to the floor mid tune). In 40+ years of whistles and other fipple flutes I’ve never had much of a thought about this happening. But, hey, we all have different mouths. So let’s see what others have to say.
You might want to talk to a dental professional about the enamel erosion.
