Question:
It's been about 4 or 5 years since I've been in this NG. I'm very happy
to see several familiar faces in here. I'm curious if anyone has had
any expericences with dental implants and playing the saxophone. I
busted out my top front tooth (central incisor #8) while in college, of
course the night before my girlfriend's senior ball. While I was able
to play on a limited basis on the other central incisor #9 and the
lateral incisor #7, it seriously hamperted the amount of playing I could
do. Since I was still planning on majoring in music at the time, the
only viable option was to get a dental implant. The process took longer
than average due to the bone damage and reconstructive work that needed
to be done (which was about 2.5 years from start to finish).
Nevertheless, the docs did a fantastic job and I have a front tooth that
looks and feels great. The sad part of the story is that it kept me
from my music far too long and ended up not majoring in music. I've
just recently gotten back into playing again with a local community band
and am slowly working on getting my chops back into shape. I'm working
on putting together a sax quartet and possibly getting back into a big
band again. It's good to be back!!!!!
I've now been playing for about 6 months with no noticable problems and
am loving every minute of it. I'm wondering if anyone else out there
has had similar "dental" issues and how it has effected their playing.
Answer:
I shattered the top half of a molar, and it was crowned when in college.
This happened while I was a music major. Of course, I couldn't play for a
few weeks, but everything was fine after recovery. Later, I had all four
wisdom teeth out, and it didn't affect me a bit. Those teeth are not as
critical to the embochure, of course.
I would definitely use a mouthpiece patch, though. My teeth have always
been fairly sensitive (yeh, I know, the abuse I put them through doesn't
help any). Or be a cheapie like me and use electrical tape.
On a similar, but different topic:
I've always considered getting braces, but shied away from it figuring it
would ruin my playing temporarily if not permanently. (Ironically, when I
took a few years hiatus, I was not smart enough to finally get braces.)
Does anyone have any experience with getting braces while playing regularly?
Did it change your sound or playing at all?
I had some work done on my top front incisors a few years ago to cure their
protrusion (basically a brace to push 'em back). It helped, but these teeth,
being 1 -2 mm longer than the surrounding teeth, have caused me some
embouchure problems. I use padded mouthpiece patches which help, but I don't
half go through a lot of 'em!
Has anyone else had this particular problem, and if so, have they had or
considered having additional dental work to correct the issue?
I must be the dentist's dream. Six implants ( big bucks!) two metal
posts in existing teeth and 4 caps.
Before I had anywork done, I used a double lip embrouchure as my teeth were
so bad.
I had the work done about 5 years ago now and I have been playing like they
are my own teeth.
I do use padded patches on all my mouthpieces though, especially metal,
sometimes it would give me a bit of a jolt!
Tell the dentist your problem, I actually took my mouthpieces to the dentist
inorder for him to see how and what I was talking about. Maybe he can file
down the new theeth or cap the ones beside them to fit.
I agree with a padded mouthpiece tooth protector. I suggest anyone having
dental treatment in the front teeth request that a "temporary cementation"
be done at first, so that you can play a few trail days before you are
committed to a new shape and/or prosthesis. I have worked with several reed
and brass players and find few problems secondary to dental treatment
bill goldner, your sax2thdoc, i played sax long before teeth, and gigged
through dental school, and still
