 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: moute
Date: 2017-06-10 21:47
I'm going to get my four wisdom teeth removed during summer and I was wondering if anyone had experience with that and playing the clarinet? How long did it took you to get back on track ect? Or any advice would be great!
Post Edited (2017-06-10 22:12)
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Author: Shaun L
Date: 2017-06-10 22:40
I had my wisdom teeth removed in March of last year and my largest piece of advice is to not touch your instrument for 6 weeks or more depending on how you feel when you try for the first time. But definitely not within 6 weeks.
Playing will cause some major discomfort if you try too early because of the pressure, but the real risk is Dry Socket. Dry socket will mean having to go into the doc's daily and having the socket pumped full of fluids to hydrate it again so it can continue healing. It is incredibly painful and will absolutely delay your playing significantly longer than the original procedure. My wife played after week 3 and by week 4 she was making daily trips to the oral surgeons office for 2 sockets that had gone dry. Ended up not able to play for another 3 months without significant pain. She faced a pretty long rebuild after that to get back to where she was.
I, on the other hand, didn't play for 2 months and by the time I picked the horn back up I was fine to play my normal practice routine. Just make sure you do everything Doc says to a tee and you likely won't have problems.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2017-06-10 22:45
This is a medical question, and you should follow the instructions of the dentist performing the procedure.
Mine said one week (or was it two?). That's what I did.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Joseph Brenner, Jr.
Date: 2017-06-10 22:53
I had all of mine removed one summer. Although I needed a bit more anesthetic during the procedure, everything went according to plan. Two friends of mine accompanied me and we filled my pain medicine. I waited all afternoon for pain to set in. By evening, I had no pain and ate a hamburger and French fries. I could have played my clarinet that night! Later that summer, my old college roommate, who had just completed 1st year dental school, looked at my old teeth. He said "[o]h, the roots are fused, that's why you had no pain." p.s. One of my friends had his 4 pulled later in the summer--the procedure was more complicated, he developed dry sockets, needed medicine. Were he a clarinetist, he wouldn't have played for a few months. So, it all depends on you--your teeth, your jaws, your muscles, your health. best wishes for immediate, full, recovery.
Post Edited (2017-06-10 22:58)
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2017-06-10 23:00
Follow the Dr.'s instructions!
I didn't - because we had a big concert coming up About five days after the surgery, I decided that I was fine, and I went to rehearsal. I won't go into the gory details, but during rehearsal, all of my sutures simultaneously popped and this cause copious/immediate bleeding...and substantially elongated the recovery process.
Again, I'll state it - follow the Dr.'s instructions! I wish I had!
;^)>>>
Fuzzy
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Author: RLarm
Date: 2017-06-11 00:41
I was told to not play for several weeks. After that it really depended on the pain/discomfort that I could tolerate. When you try playing after 3 weeks, a lot of times it is the mental hurdle which need to be overcome: "Wow this is sore. Are the stitches going to break?"I experienced that twice after having oral surgery. The same type of thing occurred after hernia surgery. Is it safe to have a bm?
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2017-06-11 02:30
I had a couple of troublesome wisdom teeth removed about a month ago. The dentist told me to stay off the clarinet for a week, but we had a concert coming up so I started playing after about 5 days. No problems and zero pain.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2017-06-11 03:08
I gave myself a week to recover, although I was prepared to go out and play the same evening I had them removed after I had a good snooze. The worst part was the local anaesthetic as they initially didn't give me enough and I had to be topped up during the procedure. That happened both times! Local anaesthetics don't seem to work that well on me.
Give yourself all the time you feel you need to recover and use Corsodyl or similar mouthwash to help with the recovery. You should be back playing from one to two weeks tops if all has gone well. The sharp edges of the empty sockets you will feel under your gums will soon be smoothed down by your body's own miniature construction team (osteoblasts and osteoclasts - they remove and rebuild bone instead of leaving things rough).
And stay away from nuts, rice, pulses, granola or any other kind of 'bitty' foods as bits will get into the empty sockets and aren't easy to remove once they get in there. I had a carton of yoghurt for my dinner after having my wisdom teeth out.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2017-06-11 03:18
As a clarinet teacher I've had many many students go through this over the years. As others have said, follow your doctor's instructions. Usually you are out of commission for a week and the doctor gives the all clear after a follow up appointment to see how things are healing. Yes, your mileage may vary but unless there are complications or you fail to follow directions you should not be out of commission very long.
If you like, you can use the downtime to get ahead on tasks that would normally cut into the time you'd like to spend practicing. You can also do some focused listening and mental practice. It's remarkable how effective 'imaginary' practice can be. You might be surprised to discover on coming back to playing that you've made some progress on areas that felt stuck before.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-06-11 17:55
Rather than answers, I'll leave you with questions that need to be answered before, I think, a good guestimate, can be made.
- all 4 at once, or, say, 2 teeth at two visits?
- local excision with completely consciousness, or sedation?
- how big is your mouth--smaller mouths involve more trauma (not that the procedure, on a continuum of trauma to the body, is a big one)
- are the teeth impacted (growing in sideways), which often are the hardest (not that it's hard) for the doctor to remove.
- skill of clinician
- DDS, DMD, Oral Surgeon, Maxillofacial Surgeon, MD/DMD
- luck (lack of dry socket, infection afterwards, etc.)
==========
Now that I've left you with so many variables, I also don't wish to scare you. Although it was a long time ago for me, I don't remember it preventing me from playing for long (days/week). This isn't the area of the mouth tasked with holding the mouthpiece.
Of course, my mouth and experience may prove more or less difficult than yours, and like all above have pointed out, let your health care professional and own healing/pain be your guide.
....all the best--do not let this freak you out.
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Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2017-06-11 23:43
You need to be VERY careful. My wisdom teeth were impacted and the ones on the bottom were left in because they were wrapped right around my nerves and if they pulled them out it would "almost certainly remove feeling in my face" which was clearly a problem. I got the top ones out without issue though.
I'm not a doctor, but some dentists seem to get trigger happy with this. Wisdom tooth removal is a major surgery and I feel like it's better to wait to SEE if they will be a problem, not assume so and act hastily.
The only thing is that my top teeth are less "crowded" than my bottom ones, which are now much less straight than they used to be. But the benefits of being able to feel my face muscles most surely are worth it.
Proceed with caution to say the least. Make SURE they know you are a musician.
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-06-12 03:41
"I'm not a doctor, but some dentists seem to get trigger happy with this."
I'll concede this if by trigger happy you define having them removed if not impacted (growing in sideways,) or before necessary if impacted (although some [kids] have impacted ones removed at earlier times to fit into schedules, which is no crime.)
But if the teeth are impacted, surgery's more likely a matter of when than if. Absence of surgery on impacted ones is like squeezing a ball (the horseshoe that forms the vertical view of your mouth) required to be (semi-)circular, by these sideways growing teeth. Absence of addressing this preventively can create a whole host of issues, the cosmetic appearance of the teeth being the least of them (bite, infection, pain, etc.)
As to the loss of face feeling, I lost said feeling in one side of my face for a brief period. It did return within weeks, it didn't affect my play, and many people don't get this symptom....but it is a necessary risk of surgery that to not do, presents more issue (down the road) that to avoid--which why the risk is taken, along with, at least in the States, liability waivers on same are often required of patients by surgeons, where patients have reached majority age, or if not, their guardians.
I'm going to counterpart the prior thread with my opinion to be very careful to NOT put off indefinitely getting this done, if competent experts find it necessary, and properly perform this.
Yes, you will hear the stories of complications. Yes, you will her the stories of impacted teeth that were removed that weren't growing. Yes, some young adults have them removed, and if in possession of a time machine, might have found this not necessary. Surgery is a risk/rewards numbers game.
Post Edited (2017-06-12 04:19)
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Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2017-06-12 04:18
In my situation the doctor told me the surgery, if needed eventually, needs to become a "crownectomy" to preserve the nerves. This involves removing only the crown of the teeth, then capping the remaining root sections.
By trigger happy I feel like everyone gets their wisdom teeth removed it seems, whether they "need" it or not. In most instances of impaction, though, it's probably advised. But for me, as I just explained, this was not possible to be done "normally"
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
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Author: ClarinettyBetty
Date: 2017-06-12 05:00
I was told to wait a week. I waited a little over a week and started playing a little at a time. If I felt to much pressure in my sockets, I stopped immediately. After about three weeks I was fine.
-----------------------
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Author: toffeeman3
Date: 2017-06-12 23:19
As soon as you get over the pain. I had all 4 removed by trainee dentists under local anesthetic. So take a few PARACETAMOL then get straight back to work!
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2017-06-13 00:40
Oh, for heaven's sake.
There are POSSIBLE dangers: nerve damage, failed barriers between mouth and nasal cavities.
CHECK THESE THINGS OUT WITH YOUR DENTIST.
It may well be that x-rays show that there is little risk.
But they may show that there is possible risk, and even that there is high risk. Everyone is different.
The issue with failed barriers between mouth and nasal cavity has to do with the pressure in the mouth after surgery. It's nothing to do with "the area of the mouth tasked with holding the mouthpiece."
So, individual worryless stories aren't useful, because they may not apply to you. Likewise, individual horror stories may not apply to you.
Bottom line: you need to FIND OUT.
Tony
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-06-13 16:09
Mr. Pay's points about understanding things before jumping in with both feet are strong.
His desire for you to know the risks, as counterbalance to anyone's previous solely pro claims that you must get this done are fair. He may never have intended to give you both sides of the story, knowing the pro surgery case was already made. He never said, "don't get this done," I suspect because knows clinical indications exist where this procedure (for the vast majority) is indicated, and hasn't (in fairness to him) said anything to the contrary.
But for those of you on the fence about getting this done based solely or mostly on fear, when medical evidence suggests it's indicated, please know, but don't embrace Mr. Pay's otherwise solid points as your "swan song," especially, not despite being a clarinet player who can't function with acute mouth pain that not getting this clinically indicated work done can cause.
I hope and believe, based on his thread, that Mr. Pay never meant disagreement with this.
If time series x-rays, consistent with basic dental care, show not only sideways growth, but at a rate, (consistent with around 85% of the population) that medical research supports the benefits of this procedure over the risks, please at least visit a qualified dental surgeon for consult. An examination of your mouth, to rule out many (but yes, not all) risks should first be done by them prior to surgery.
Yes, the occasional profiteer will do this procedure without the patient specific justification, wrongly citing this 85% rule when you are an individual, not a number. Yes, the mythical crystal ball might show, given the less than perfect diagnostic tools available to us, a patient for which surgery was indicated, but that in hindsight turned out to be unneeded; yes, sometimes one in which (unnecessary) complications developed.
But the cold hard truth is that in medicine we all are, and should be, to the clinician, just a scientific risk calculation when it comes to go/no go on procedures/medicines. This isn't to advocate lack of bedside manner, nor patient specific pre-op exam to rule out an individual's high (but not all) risk factors.
This is to say--and this is the important part--that we can't subject every patient to every diagnostic test to all but rule out risk because the cost of same (especially compared to its relative lack of probative value for the masses) would bleed the system dry of funds to provide necessary care--not to mention that with every test comes the risk of false positives (finding something that isn't really there.) Would, say, an expensive MRI done on every patient all but extinguish Mr. Pay's nasal/oral cavity concerns? Maybe; but certainly along with the insurance pool funds to get others the care they need.
If peer reviewed examinations by professionals not in the profit chain recommend this be done, get it done.
Does it suck that you may be the rare complication that would have been unmasked by the MRI, yes, but less so than MRI testing everyone, and not having the insurance pool money left to pay for the medical procedures that others need and want/clinically deserve to have done.
And does it suck that insurer's often don't pay, solely in the interest of profit, not preserving funds for other patients, for needed care: absolutely.
Post Edited (2017-06-13 16:21)
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-06-15 19:45
....except perhaps those forum members saying (or explaining why) you should trust your doctors/dentists, not forum members who aren't also said specialists ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
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Author: Zain
Date: 2017-06-23 02:48
I healed very quickly. I recommend to everyone to eat a lot of pineapple leading up to the operation because pineapple has an active ingredient that promotes gum health. So the first time I played the horn was 4 days after I got them out and I was back to regular practice in about 2 weeks.
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