 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mohammeddisto
Date: 2003-06-28 22:49
I am thinking of getting invisalign instead of regular braces (see www.invisalign.com )
i often bite through my mp pads and scratch my mp with my front teeth...do you think i will damage teh invisalign if i play clar with them on?
they're costing about $7000 so i don't wanna waste any money
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2003-06-28 23:13
It looks a lot like the retainer my daughter wore after having regular braces.
In order to play even a recorder, she had to take it off. I'd guess you'd need to take it out to play the clarinet. Have you completely ruled out the kind of braces cemented on your teeth. I had those, and had no problem playing the clarinet (and this was many years ago, when bands went completely around each tooth). Now, the braces are so much smaller, and don't go completely around the tooth, so it should be even easier to play. And $7000 seems really steep. My daughter's treatment was ~$2000, and she had the braces for 1.5 years.
Kay
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Author: Sarah
Date: 2003-06-28 23:14
Well, those look just like what I have for a retainer. You take them out to eat and you would probably want to take them out when you play too, although you could play with them in. I didn't read everything about them, but you would have to get new ones every so often to make progress, so you wouldn't have the same ones for too long. I would talk to the orthodontist before you get them, and they will be able to answer your questions better.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2003-06-29 04:24
$7000 does seem high. My son's treatment in NJ cost $5000 total for 5 years including a pallet widening treatment before braces. His mouth was a mess. The regular braces alone would have been $3500. This was some years ago. You may want to get a treatment plan from more than one orthodontist before signing up, and be sure to tell them that you play the clarinet. Even wire braces today are not bad at all, nothing like the "metal mouth" my brother had in the 1960s.
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2003-06-29 14:30
As I have mentioned in many earlier posts:
Any good Dentist can make you an "appliance" out of super thin plastic, that fits perfectly over you teeth and will not be felt or affect your playing.
You must find the right Dentist to take an impression of your teeth, and then make the proper fitting "appliance."
The entire precedure takes very little time, costs about $60, and lasts a lifetime. I've been using my "appliance" for about 20 years.
If you live in the NYC/NJ area, I can give you the name of my Dentist.
Good luck and save your money.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2003-06-29 17:16
Mohammeddisto,
I think that you should be able to play just fine using invisalign appliances. Ignore the comments above especially the ones which say something like "hey they look just like..." These folks are likely not familiar with the invisalign process.
This process uses a model of your teeth which is scanned into a computer data base. The desired finished position of your teeth is computer generated. Much as a picture is morphed via computer, the computer makes a series of progress projections. A milling machine then produces intermediate models and a series of appliances are produced on these treatment models.
The appliances are most like athletic mouth guards or an older orthodontic appliance known as a "tooth positioner". The appliance is transparent and very similar to a mouth guard your dentist might make to keep you from irritating your lower lip with sharp tooth edges while playing.
As I said, a series of appliances are made up as each one only does a little of the movement. It is highly likely that before you can wear through one by playing your clarinet you will be moved into the next one. Failing that, a perforation along the incisal edge (biting area of the upper front teeth) is unlikely to completely uncover the tooth so even though the appliance is perforated it will still perform it's function admirably. The production of a perforation would be due to wear on the material caused by pressure between your teeth and the mouthpiece, so keeping a soft mouth piece pad in place should help.
If you are dumping the cash on invisalign (your choice of treatment modality and cost is not the issue here) be sure to keep on playing and practicing... Mom and Dad don't want to waste their money on the orthodontics or the clarinet lessons!
disclaimer: I am not an orthodontist... I am a board certified pediatric dentist with significant orthodontic training. However as for the previous paragraph... I am a parent so you can trust me on that one.
Terry Horlick
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