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Re: How does having braces affect playing?

Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2004-05-26 14:57

I had braces for about 17 months. I had to stop playing during that time. When I repeatedly attempted to play I had to put on so much dental wax on my teeth that I felt I had a hockey mouthpiece in my mouth. It was very difficult to get my mouth muscles around to make a tight seal.

Also the tooth area on my bottom teeth was thickend by the wax that I had to put on and as a result my tone was deadened. Kind of like the difference between holding a ruler off a table and flicking the tip so it vibrates and trying to do the same thing off the edge of the bed.

However after the braces came off my tone very quickly surpassed my former tone. With my teeth perfectly in line, it was easier for me to hold my embouchure, tongue high, cheeks filling into the mouth and the front of the jaw flat. Also my bottom teeth were now lined up perfectly so that I had more control, especially tonguing, in the upper altissimo register.

As for the overbite, since you can move your jaw forwards and backwards I don't see how this is an issue.

The advantage the clarinetist has by having perfectly straight teeth is:
1. It's easier to hold the correct embouchure
2. Nasty canker sores are much less frequent because the corners of sharp, crooked teeth are not abrading the gums. (FYI I read about an experiment where scientists gave subjects tiny pinpricks to the insides of their gums. The found that canker sores very frequently developed at the site of the pinpricks.)
3. Straight bottom teeth allow for more precise tonguing, articulation and tone production.

It is a big sacrifice to stop playing for a year and a half so that you can enjoy the blissful experience of braces. However once it is all over, you will find that aspects of your embouchure that required so much effort now become easy.

Ron Jr.

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