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What Are Pageant Flippers?

Cindy Quarters
Cindy Quarters

Pageant flippers are the false front teeth worn by children who are competing in beauty pageants. They are normally worn only while the child is on stage. The purpose of a flipper is to hide any imperfections in a child’s front teeth, so that the smile he or she presents to the judges has no crooked teeth or gaps. Not all types of pageants require or even allow the use of flippers, but for those that do, they can be very important.

Since many children competing in beauty pageants are at the age where it is common to lose teeth, pageant flippers are a way of temporarily covering the gaps so that the child presents a perfect smile. Flippers must be made individually, and they can be quite expensive. To have a flipper made, a child first has to have an impression made of her teeth. This is typically done with a kit that can be mailed to the child’s home so that the parents can take the impression and then send the kit to the lab by return mail.

Woman with hand on her hip
Woman with hand on her hip

Various labs make pageant flippers, and both the time it takes and the quality of the job can vary quite a bit from one lab to the next. New contestants may want to ask other parents for lab recommendations, to avoid wasting money on poor quality flippers. Once the lab has received the impressions of the child’s teeth it typically takes about two weeks to receive the completed flipper. It is important that the flippers be made in advance; if they don’t fit correctly, the teeth may drop out of the child’s mouth during the competition. The size should also be checked to make sure the teeth don’t look too large or too small for the child’s mouth.

Some people object to the use of pageant flippers, claiming the teeth look unreal and make young children appear strange or unnatural. For people who don’t like pageant flippers but would like to see their children compete, natural pageants may be a more appropriate choice. These pageants typically don’t require the use of flippers, and in many cases they specifically forbid them.

Parents who want to see their children compete in the very fancy glitz competitions need to be accepting of the use of pageant flippers. It is very rare for a child to enter such competitions without the use of these fake teeth, and rarer still for a child without them to do well. Most people who compete tend to consider pageant flippers to be part of the makeup and nothing more.

Discussion Comments

ysmina

There are also pageant flippers for young women and adult. Some artists use them when they perform or when they're competing. Of course it looks better on an adult.

fBoyle

I agree that most pageant flippers look unnatural. My daughter is going to take part in a pageant and they actually require the girls to wear pageant flippers if there are missing teeth. My daughter is missing one teeth in the front so we are going to have to order a pageant flipper. I just don't want one that's uncomfortable for her or looks too large and unnatural.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a brand/manufacturer that offers comfortable and good looking ones?

literally45

I'm against the idea of child beauty competitions. And children wearing pageant flippers are the worst thing ever. It's all part of the effort to make children look like women. I find that unnatural and unhealthy for the child's psychology and development. Children need to be children and experience that phase fully so that they can be happy, confident individuals at peace with themselves when they grow up. Dressing children up in night gowns, putting layers of makeup on them and pageant flippers is wrong.

The competitions and pageants where children remain children, without makeup and wigs is fine though. As long as there isn't pressure placed on the child to do well, it can be a fun and different experience.

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