Will My Teeth Fall Out??!

[Lisa]

Hi,

My aunt told me a scarey story the other night, which made me laugh so I thought I'd share... Apparently my cousin used to be a clarinet player (quite a good one at that,) but stopped because after a weekend of heavy playing her front teeth loosened! She told me as a kind of warning to be careful with my sax and keep a check on my teeth!

:laugh:

At first this sounded ridiculous, and I figured that as my cousin was at school at the time maybe her teeth were still growing and not so strong as I'd assume those of an adult would be.

Has anyone heard of this before? :? Not sure I'd quit the sax anyway - even if it did render me toothless!

L

 

[Bobby G]

I've always been Mr. Gappy at the front. I'm not sure whether the gap is widening or not since taking up sax...!

At the rate my teeth are deteriorating, I'll be needing false ones soon anyway, then I'll really feel like age is creeping up on me

Is it still possible to play with false teeth, or will I have to go back to guitar?

Decrepitly yours, Bob

 

[Greywolf]

I have a front crown which has had to be re-glued three times. The last time it sheered off part of the tooth post to which the crown was glued.

I am quite sure that this is caused by bite pressure pushing the tooth forward and vibration.

I find my embouchure tends to favour the right incisor (the crown) so I try to make a conscious effort to even up the pressure across both incisors. I know trouble is starting whe I am aware that the right tooth feels slightly out of alignment with the left.

I also use a thick MPC guard to try to cut down on vibration.

 

[lee_]

A proper clarinet embouchure is much tighter than a good sax "grip", I think. Also, since the clarinet mouthpiece goes into your mouth at more of an up-and-down angle, it can apply much more forward pressure to your upper teeth.

The old man I used to take lessons from, a college prof and former Selmer clinician, told me repeatedly a story about a teacher in Australia who would actually strike students in the head to demonstrate they were biting too hard (I suppose he was threatening, but would no more have popped me one than he would have poked a bear with a stick).

The point being then, and now, that a sax embouchure should be loose.

Bob, I believe the inventor of the Consoli ligature did so after his teeth were knocked out in a car wreck, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Bobby G]

It's true, isn't it? You have to suffer for your art.

 

[Greywolf]

I read somewhere that you can still play sax without your front teeth so when the crown came off last time I tried it.

Seemed to work fine so I stopped worrying quite as much.

mind you I still had the other tooth.

Greywolf

 

[lee_]

I reckon a seasoned player could just shape a bit of cork to fill up any toothlessness, stuff it in there and go on. Been my experience that all embouchure tightness was a mistake, anyway, usually caused by stage-fright, fatigue or other stress.

 

[RedBottom]

I have fourteen crowns, the front ones having been in place since some b*tch pushed me down a step at the age of 10 (I'm now 46) and broke my teeth.

Now, I've only played sax and clarinet for about the last eight or ten years, and during that time have had plenty of extensive dental work done, front and back. Just last week, one of the front crowns broke on, of all things, a sub roll. However, the tooth broke off with it and now I have to have a post crown fitted. I'm told this might not be 100% successful, but it's better than a denture. My dentist knows I play sax, and every time something happens, I ask her if that's had anything to do with things. The answer is always no. Neither does she have any worries about the sax affecting the new crown.

Mind you, having whacked myself in the gob a few times with a metal mouthpiece, I can understand how it could do some damage. :cry:

 

[Bobby G]

HR is bad enough, but a metal mpc? Makes my eyes water just to think about it...

Bob

 

[Lisa]

I'm always clonking myself in the mush with my sax... Better start to be more careful methinks as an awaful lot of you guys seem to have dental problems...

:x

Whats "HR" Bob?

 

[Weasel]

Lisa, I'd doubt very much that the clarinet can be blamed for your cousin's loosened teeth. The teeth shouldn't be biting down hard on the mouthpiece, and I can't for the life of me imagine how normal clarinet playing could cause anything remotely resembling tooth-loosening. Inadvertently/clumsily/drunkenly hitting yourself in the face with an instrument might though, but in my experience that kinda thing tends to be the province of lads in the brass section (though I admit once managing to poke myself in the eye with a reed :whistle: ).

Years and years of clarinet playing never had any bad effect on my teeth, and in fact I suspect the dire warnings I got from my teacher - "look after your teeth properly, cause if you end up with falsers it'll take a loads of practice to get your embouchure back" (accompanied usually by a bit of dramatic jiggling about of his own top set) - actually contributed to the reasonable health of my teeth nowadays.

Having said that, my top furthest back ones have started to complain. Dentist tells me I have cracked teeth syndrome, caused by clenching my jaw when I'm severely stressed (so, all the time, basically :erm: ). This has nothing whatsoever to do with playing woodwind instruments of course (and in fact I hope the playing of woodwind instruments again might relieve my stress considerably).

 

[Rogerb]

My dentist has made me a 'bite guard' which is designed to help with teeth-grinding while asleep, which sounds similar.

It seems to help, but it's hard to say.
It was certainly expensive (500Euros 😱 )

 

[Bobby G]

Help *with* teeth-grinding, or help prevent it, Roger?

Pedantically yours, Bob

Hi Lisa. HR = hard rubber mouthpiece as opposed to metal.

 

[Rogerb]

😛

 

[Weasel]

Rogerb wrote:
My dentist has made me a 'bite guard' which is designed to help with teeth-grinding while asleep, which sounds similar.

It seems to help, but it's hard to say.
It was certainly expensive (500Euros 😱 )

Oooh, my partner grinds his teeth while asleep so badly, you can hear it all across the North of Scotland. I've seriously started to consider sleeping permanently on the sofa. His dentist mentioned something about a bite guard, but miladdo didn't fancy the idea much... and I have to say if they're that kind of price, I don't fancy it either.
I woke up this morning with an extremely painful jaw, which I thought initially was evidence for this teeth-clenching thing I do.... then I realised my it was my facial muscles which were hurting, due to the constant grinning since I bought that Hanson on Saturday. There's always a fly in the ointment. 🙂

 

[Bobby G]

"I woke up this morning, with an extremely painful jaw", sounds like the first line of the 'Sax-player's Fear of the Dentist Blues'.

 

[RedBottom]

Just thought I'd give you an update on the post crown.

After having the broken crown temporarily pinned into place (which came adrift after a few days), I had a 'proper' temporary one fitted a couple of weeks ago. I went back yesterday for the real macoy. Because I'd kept the old crown, the technicians were able to use it to make an exact match - shade, shape, everything. It looks pretty good. In fact, when my husband looked, he couldn't fathom out which was the new one.

What impressed the dentist was how difficult the temporary one was to remove (she had to 'cut' it off). We're both hoping that the permanent one will be just as stubborn.

 

[ken_aust]

I had the blues when I had no shoes, until I met along the street, a man who had no feet.
Ken