 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2003-08-12 22:53
Just wondering about this. I have a student who recently got braces, and has an audition in one week (poor timing on the parent's part, but what can you do?) Anyway, this is the first time I've had a student get braces (I have students who started with braces, and students who started with braces then got them removed, but never this).
I realize that the best advice is probably just to get used to it, but since we are in a bit of a hurry to "get used to it", I wonder if anyone has any experiences with students or themselves that make this transition quicker, easier, or less painful.
I advised her to get dental wax from the orthodontist before she got them on, but I haven't spoken to her since, and we have one lesson between now and her audition. It's just a chair test, and I'm sure the band director will be understanding, but I still want her to have the best audition possible under the circumstances.
Any advice?
Thanks
Don Hite - theclarinetist@yahoo.com
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2003-08-12 23:27
Is your student actually having pain when playing? In my experience, when I had full mouth braces, the pain didn't come from the brackets (wax covered that up just fine), but from the teeth adjusting to wire tightening. Pain when playing wasn't any different from pain when just sitting there. And it only hurt for a few days after an adjustment. An appropriate dose of whatever pain killer your student best tolerates can help initially.
I didn't find when I had braces that it affected my playing much at all. We didn't see that with my son either. Wait until you hear your student play with the braces on before you worry about it.
Cheers,
Kay
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2003-08-12 23:28
There are two problems with braces:
1. Irritation of the bottom (or even top) lip from the braces themselves. This can be ameliorated by application of the orthodontic wax, as you suggested, or by use of "denture pads" as lip-savers. When I was in college, several friends of mine used the Sea-Bond ones, cut up to fit their front bottom teeth.
2. Teeth and gums can actually be very sore immediately following the initial appointment, and after subsequent "tightening" appointments. The best (IMHO) solution here is your average over-the-counter pain reliever. I am not a doctor, and there may be reasons NOT to take aspirin/acetominaphin/ibuprofen/etc....
My $.02,
Katrina
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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2003-08-13 20:57
I had braces too. I think Katrina is right on the money.
I will only add that the first week after I got my braces, I couldn't even chew, my teeth and gums were so tender. (The pain was never so bad at any other time during my orthodontia, though Katrina is right about soreness after tightenings.) I couldn't stand to have my clarinet mouthpiece in my mouth for days. I drank a lot of milkshakes.
If your student can't eat solid food, I'd contact the band director about postponing the audition. It would almost be like asking someone with a broken finger to audition.
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2003-08-14 01:36
Yeah, I agree with C. Hogue. When I had braces the first week was very painful, and having the clarinet push at all against my teeth (or having my lower lip curved over my lower jaw) hurt a lot. Your students embochure may change slightly as well since she will have more material in her mouth to actually go around...but over all, after a week or so, it got a lot better and I learned to get used to it as a person has to get used to any change.
Tell her to do the best she can in the circumstance. If she can manage to form the most similar embochure possible without changing much (as she will have to go around the braces) she should be fine. It's just a slightly different feel in the mouth.
As the others said, see if the band director can postpone the audition so that she can get used to these braces a bit longer.
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Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2003-08-14 15:08
I have had braces for 8 months so I can offer the following suggestions:
1. use a strip of wax to cover the all brakets on all the teeth at all times. This prevents gum irritation and the canker sores that develop. (A study was done where test subjects were given pin pricks on different locatations on the lips. Canker sores almost always developed on the sites that had the pin pricks). The wax strip can be taken off before eating and then can be replaced after brushing. Wearing wax all the time prevents canker sores from developing in the first place. And your student certainly doesn't need a mouth full of canker sores during an audition.
2. use extra wax to cover the bottom teeth and the bottom four brackets while playing. Try to make a thin, smooth symetrical curve to the wax so there is a regular surface for the reed to vibrate on.
The first month of having braces is awful. The mouth has all this extra metal in it. So making a tight seal on the mouthpiece is more difficult. It's like holding a cup a water against your body, people can do it all night long. However if you hold that same cup at arm's length then you certainly can't hold it out there all night.
The bottom teeth have metal brakets on them so it's difficult to get a clear and clean vibration from the reed because there are so many contact points on the reed. You can use more wax to cover the bottom teeth but that means you have to open the mouth more and hence a more difficult time sealing the embouchure.
Also there is the pain, in the mouth. I think that pain in the mouth is second only to pain in the eye.
So the biggest obstacle is not the pain, rather the whole mouth has changed and is changing radically. As a result notes squeek, or don't sound at all. Confidence is lost because no note is safe from squeeking. The uncertain realm of note generation that was once the exclusive realm of the upper altissimo now extends itself throughout the clarinet range.
Good luck,
Ron Jr.
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2003-08-14 16:44
Cool. Thanks for all the great advice. I had my lessons with this student. She actually was doing pretty well. She said the pain wasn't really a big deal. The biggest problem was that she was leaking a lot of air (which I told her I thought was normal since her lips now had to go farther to make a good seal), increased saliva accumulation, and slightly decreased endurance. Her tone was actually about the same.
While I'm no expert on braces (having never had them), I assumed from her playing that all the setbacks were minor and would go away with a little practice and minor changes. In fact, she was most concerned about the braces temporarily giving her a lisp.... she actually had a good sense of humor about it.
She should be able to do fine on her audition, but I told her to make sure the band director knows about the braces. Thanks everybody.
DHite
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