Klarinet Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 2011/10
From: Jennifer Jones <helen.jennifer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] dental question
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:41:07 -0400
Dear KIarinetters,
I am sorry for not catching this thread sooner. It is a nightmare starting
up my computer, for some reason start-up is extremely slow. I am also a bit
sick of computers too. I want to hang out with people, but am having
trouble figuring out how to do that comfortably.
I had three wisdom teeth out in high school. (fifteen years ago). I sat
out of band for a few days (I think I tried playing a bit too soon at first,
I think there was a bit of leakage between my mouth and nasal passages). It
must have closed up. I don't have that problem anymore. My wisdom teeth
were taken out under general anaesthesia.
I am pretty sure that I did not have to have stitches taken out. The bone
reconstructive surgeries after my car crash a year and a half ago were
sealed with staples and vicryl. The staples had to be taken out, but the
vycril dissolved and I had stitch remains falling off after several weeks.
So, I know there are degradable sutures available. I don't know what would
be used orally.
Apparently one wisdom tooth had not developed at the time, because I now
have one sitting wonky in my back gum root developed and everything. I have
a small mouth, so there is no room for it to erupt. Shortly after I learned
about it, I thought I was feeling it pushing on the tissue next to my back
molar, but consciously stopped thinking about it because I figured that if I
dwelt on it too much, I might end up making it inflamed and causing
problems. Haven't had any issues since. I think extraction will be a
nightmare requiring bone cutting and such.
Does anyone have information on people playing clarinet without teeth?
Incidentally, I wonder if not having bottom incisors would pose a certain
advantage. When I started playing in grade school my bottom teeth caused
quite a bit of discomfort in my bottom lip (I still have a ridge on the
inside of my mouth below the lower lip, though no pain) I probably bit
before I realized how to do things differently. Didn't get lessons until I
got section leader in high school and I figured that I am supposed to lead
people, I should learn how to to things properly. Before that, parents
always said something to the effect that I didn't practice enough to justify
lessons; I had to be serious about it before I got lessons.
Hairy story:
This molar topic is interesting. It must have been a couple years ago (It
was before the car crash) when a dental hygienist took the probe and waggled
one of my filled molars, asking if it hurt. It didn't until she waggled
it. I told her so and the issue was addressed with the dentist. We x-rayed
it and all. I couldn't see anything wrong in the x-rays. The dentist said
I might lose the tooth (transient ache). I have elected not to do anything
with it, mainly because it doesn't hurt to chew on the thing, it just
sometimes aches (saying this made it ache transiently). The really wacky
thing is (I am getting a headache) that these pains seem like God smiting me
because when I get these pains I can usually find a reason that I shouldn't
be doing something. They even coincide with thoughts and what I understand
to be social norms. I don't get out enough to be confident that I know
social norms so I am not going to put much faith in my innate inhibitions
(especially since I think my inhibitions have significant bearing on my car
crash and social discomfort).
The severity of the aches correlate with whether I am taking my calcium
supplements. (I grew up taking vitamins etc; someone warned me against
kidney stones)
One lady I talked with said she has four cavities and her teeth look great.
She said something about whitening. Another person I ran into looked like
he had a hole drilled in the center of each of his bottom incisors. Another
looked like he had whittled his bottom teeth to look like Gollum from Lord
of the Rings.
I am really angry that that hygienist waggled that tooth. She should have
asked whether the top next to back molar etc. hurt, not waggled it and then
asked whether it hurt. They said it was cracked. I got a molar pain in
high school bottom left somewhere or maybe it was top right. I complained
about it. They said it was cracked and put some sort of sealant on the
thing and I have been fine since. I asked about the sealant when the
hygienist induced pain and the dentist said something to the effect of that
wouldn't work without explaining why. The annoying thing is that this tooth
waggling occurred after I had yammered rather effusively on previous visits
(perhaps a symptom of unemployment; I had been layed off a year before for
lack of funds in the employers coffers) and I ended up with a dental plan
that I think did not pay as much (transient headache). I think I can seem a
bit cutthroat and I say goading things. I suspect that this is a major
reason I keep quiet in social situations. So, I think I may have touched
some sensitivities of the hygienist and whether she did it consciously or
not, it felt like retribution for pains she may have felt.
This also occurred after I impulsively made some loud-mouthed comment in the
waiting room about how hubby said he doesn't brush his teeth and I had
warned him that he'd better brush his teeth, or he would get cavities (I
hadn't made any such warning and I made the comment as I was leaving).
Shortly thereafter, he develops a horrible tooth pain, I fuss over him to
the extent that I know how (not much, I want to learn to fuss really nicely
with good technique and endurance, so that I can give hubby good, long,
satisfying fussing-overs on demand). He goes into the dentist, gets a crown
and antibiotics on a rear-most molar. And on reflection I am thinking
"oh-my-god, what have I done?" (something mom-in-law said in another context
- it seems my conversation skills are directly correlated with stuff people
say nicely to me - I must be a really slow developer, or there is not much
niceness in my family, or everyone mirrors each other, except me and I am a
real sourpuss such that all I hear is neutrality or sours). I don't think
the dentist had ever said I would get cavities if I didn't brush my teeth.
What was I doing? Releasing some fear I got zapped with when I was a kid?
I asked hubby if he brushed his teeth probably a year into the
relationship. I figured we were close enough that I would get a
straight-forward answer. I only asked once. I am wondering if I should
have asked more times or if I am not enough of a talker such that he took
that to mean I was wondering why his breath was bad (it wasn't) because I
distinctly remember seeing him brush his teeth quite often and I think it
was after I asked I asked my question. He had no fillings before the crown.
Another thing I wonder, is whether I was grating and annoying and whether
that caused the tooth pain. I asked hubby whether something I was doing was
annoyng several times. He said no and finally said something in the
affirmative. Not sure what to believe. I wondered because I kept a
hair-shirt of a friend in middle school who made me quite uncomfortable. (I
think in retrospect that she might have caused some of my cavities, I don't
remember tooth pain, but I remember a lot of discomfort over-all - dad made
some comment that I was hyper sensitive and if I wanted to be a professor, I
had to learn to deal with these things - never knew how to complain to
parents, others or directly to the causative agent that someone was making
me uncomfortable, so I assumed that I had to learn to let it sort of roll
off me.) Didn't have enough to say to stop people from talking. That was
also the time I decided to experiment, reasoning that when I brushed my
teeth, if I only brushed the sides that the tops would be sufficiently
cleaned. If the number of fillings I got is any indication, then I was dead
wrong. So I guess I inflicted some of what I learned from the hair-shirt of
a friend on hubby, out of habit. (I think things went full circle when his
aunt asked me repeatedly what was wrong when we visited. She was quite
certain there was something wrong and I couldn't figure out what she could
be thinking after I told her several times that there was nothing wrong.
She got really annoying and I screamed at her to go away. Should have told
her that her badgering was what was wrong and then if that hadn't satisfied
her, I should have selected something from the laundry list of complaints I
should have been keeping because screaming at her got me in a cow-load of
trouble). Anger management? Irritation management?
Thought about trying to find a new dentist, but this is a real nightmare,
because with the wheelchair and not having had income for three years now
and all the aches and pains I am trying to sort out, getting around is very
tiresome. Plus, I've been filling out forms and making form calls since I
can remember and I don't want to do that anymore. There must be a better
way. Since life is finite (probably more so now since my body is falling
apart) and I nearly died in that car crash I am not going to fool with it.
I have better things to do.
I have food and shelter. The rest will come.
I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, or perhaps more like a
psych(ologist/iatrist) mentioned schizoaffective disorder in passing when I
went in for evaluation (I am getting a transient headache). Not sure
whether that explains these transient pains (I am sure that they are
transient pains and not a matter of just becoming distracted from them
because I can consciously think about the thing that was hurting and it
doesn't still hurt). That was after I said something to the effect of I
wasn't psychotic that these are means of communication... A crazy thing to
say, I know. I tend to be silent in social situations, writing more or
making long spiels or occasional one liners as the spirit strikes me. (I
don't want to say anything stupid and I want to contribute
constructively...)
Now I get burpy belly gas for analyzing my aches. Doc says burpiness is a
sumptom of reflux. Taking a proton pump inhibitor, but still get
heartburn. I swear that people cause these aches. A symptom of being
wheelchair bound and not very mobile (can't use left leg b/c of the car
crash)?
I had a daydream, wondering whether you treat a toothless person as a ten
year old, they will grow teeth back and even ran into someone with half
length front incisors that I imagined could have been growing back... I
asked mom, a nurse-midwife, whether people can grow new sets of teeth. She
said that some people are born with a third set of teeth, but when I pursued
the topic asking whether they were functional, she gave an indefinite answer
and all my teeth started hurting with a rather stuffy-car exhaust feeling in
my sinus region. I asked dad (a biologist) about some comment he made that
one of my 60 year old cousins has all his teeth intact (no fillings) and he
changed his story and caused that pain saying something to the effect that
he lost all his teeth.
Everyone says that my nanny lost all her teeth when she was 26. Dad was
born when she was forty, so I asked my mom whether nanny had teeth when she
met her (would have been when nanny was in her late sixties). His response
gave me pains. Nanny always had false teeth in my memory. She lived
through the great depression.
I am told that the tooth is cracked and that I might lose it. ...not sure
if that is because I had my teeth drilled without anaesthetic when I was a
kid.
-Jennifer
MIsc:
I am told that tooth loss results in bone atrophy. Not sure what the
problem with that might be. Post-natal cleft palate? Would gumming your
food help keep the bones in shape? (Upper abdominal bloating, belly gas,
some burping and now a headache).
(First time proof reading got a persistent headache, then I noticed it,
decided that I wanted to continue and it went away [transient tooth pain])
(butt pain - sort of averse to writing since I have to sit so long to read
everything and write, but I am soooooo bored, being house-bound and
job/school-less - shall shift positions).
(chest pains - because I apologized for my confusion about my friends cheek
numbing and paralysis? Headache for editing and trying to write straight
and for saying this... Ugh, this is insane.)
On Sun, Oct 9, 2011 at 7:48 PM, David Renaud <drjazzca@-----.com> wrote:
> Any comments, information, considerations, experiences, on the
> effects of dental work on ones clarinet playing would be of great
> interest just now. Many of the great players must have had to
> negotiate some challenges later in life in this respect. Their stories
> and struggles overcoming some of these challenges would be of
> interest.
>
> Specifically, the loss of one molar, how will that effect sound Centre.
> Complications from a root canal, or an extraction. success or
> failure of an implant.
>
> Personally, I have a 30 year old molar filling that came out, and
> the tooth cracked.
> The tooth was repaired, refilled, and the fissure was though not to go
> too deep.
> Unfortunately the crack apparently did go deep enough to allow in an
> infection in the root.
> OUCH!!! Tuesday I may need to make a decision to have it removed or
> get a root canal on the tooth.
>
> Of note; clarinet is not a hobby for me. I do not have a full
> time orchestra gig, but as a freelance clarinet major and woodwind
> doubler I do get to play about 200 performances a year, including
> some pops weeks with our national orchestra, pit work, studio, and
> freelance in various styles.
>
> So the challanges and risks as a working musician, and the
> stories behind some of our great players negotiating such challenges
> is of interest at this time.
>
> Have not seen a thread on this, and it could be a good discussion.
> If nothing else comes of it, perhaps it will motive some young players
> to take care of themselves.
>
> Thank You in advance
> Dave Renaud
>
> PS> yes it is VERY painful. Played two gigs on it yesterday.....OUCH.
> decided to send a sub to Tuesdays jazz gig.
> Will see about
> friday,sat,sunday gigs after Tuesdays dental appointment.
> Could get expensive on lost
> income.........
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