Klarinet Archive - Posting 000263.txt from 2003/08

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <patricia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dental Advice
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 18:19:29 -0400

Ian Black wrote:

>Just lost near enough all of the visible part of one of my upper front
>teeth. I know this has come up before, but I'm connecting via laptop and
>cellphone so I can't really search the archives. Can anyone give me an =
>idea of the likely treatments and what impact these may have for clarinet
>playing?
>
Wow. That is an extensive loss, Ian. I hope you are not experiencing
any pain, or if you are, it isn't substantial.
I have known a clarinetist in the distant past who played with an entire
set of false teeth, and used to take his teeth out and play with double
lip to strengthen his embouchure from time to time, so anything is
possible. I believe one possibility these days is to actually have the
rest of the tooth (parts not visible) removed, and then have it replaced
with a fake tooth. If you have had some sort of template made of your
teeth for any reason, perhaps that could be used as a model for the
tooth replacement?

Now, as to how expensive this is to do, I have no idea. I also
understand you live in the UK, so your situation medical/dentist-wise is
likely different to those of us in the U.S., Canada or elsewhere.

If there is some part of the tooth above the gum still there, perhaps
the part broken off can be saved, and put back? It depends. I hope you
are able to see a dentist soon! Keep us abreast of how this goes! Best
of luck!

Patricia Smith

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