{"id":43244,"date":"2015-01-11T10:53:10","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T18:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=43244"},"modified":"2024-06-17T11:32:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T18:32:59","slug":"sax-playing-can-harm-your-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2015\/sax-playing-can-harm-your-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Sax Playing Can Harm Your Teeth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning while I was checking through a few of the tens of thousands of archived newspaper articles that contained references to saxophones, I happened across this interesting piece from the February 6, 1996 edition of the New Straits Times<\/em>. According to a dentist from the University of Michigan Medical Centre at Ann Arbor, we are saxophonically sucking our thumbs whenever we play. Therefore according to Dr. Gobetti, yes, sax playing can harm your teeth.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
\nSource: New Straits Times, February 6, 1996<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of kids in my Jr. and Sr. high wore braces… As a matter of fact, I was one of them. Perhaps my saxophone playing was the reason I ended up having to have my braces nearly twice as long as my orthodontist originally told me I was going to.  :scratch:<\/p>\n

Do I have a bit of an overbite? Sure, but then I did before I had braces as well. How much did my saxophone playing affect my bite?<\/p>\n

I’ve never had a cold sore in my life, touch wood,  \ud83d\ude09  so I haven’t experienced a flare-up due to playing.<\/p>\n

Oh, and one last thing, (this one about the reed resting on the bottom teeth): If you’re experiencing pain in your lip, it’s possible that you’re biting on the mouthpiece too hard. Or that you haven’t developed the sax player’s callous yet. Yes, you might have jagged teeth. Those can be smoothed over with a white filling like I had done last year\u2014or you could do like my first sax teacher did; use cigarette rolling papers.<\/p>\n

What others are saying about whether sax playing can harm your teeth<\/h2>\n

Now admittedly I didn’t spend a lot of time researching this, but I was surprised at how few articles appeared online\u2014on either Google or Google Scholar. I did however, find an article titled: “Specific orofacial problems experienced by musicians”, in the Australian Dental Journal<\/em> 2002;47:(1):2-11.<\/a><\/p>\n

In her paper cited above, Dr. Suzette Porter, from the School of Dentistry at The University of Queensland, provides 35 references, which could be followed up on if one was so inclined. However, for my purposes, her research findings were good enough.<\/p>\n

The following is a quote from the Abstract of “Specific orofacial problems experienced by musicians”:<\/p>\n

Method:<\/strong>
\nInformation in this paper is gathered from
\nstudies published in dental, music and occupational
\nhealth journals, and from discussions with career
\nmusicians and music teachers.
\nResults:<\/strong>
\nOrthodontic problems, soft tissue trauma,
\nfocal dystonia, denture retention, herpes labialis, dry
\nmouth and temporomandibular joint (TMJ)
\ndisorders were identified as orofacial problems of
\ncareer musicians. Options available for prevention
\nand palliative treatment as well as instrument
\nselection are suggested to overcome these problems.
\nConclusions:<\/strong>
\nCareer musicians express reluctance to
\nattend dentists who are not sensitive to their specific
\nneeds. General practitioner dentists who understand
\nhow the instruments impact on the orofacial
\nstructures and are aware of potential problems faced
\nby musicians are able to offer preventive advice and
\nsupportive treatment to these patients, especially
\nthose in the early stages of their career.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah yes, we’ve come a long way from the days of Tom Brown,<\/a> who had four of his lower front teeth removed, and wore a scallop in his upper teeth\u2014all from playing saxophone. But It does appear that even today, sax playing can harm your teeth.<\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning while I was checking through a few of the tens of thousands of archived newspaper articles that contained references to saxophones, I happened …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[289],"tags":[653,574,671],"class_list":["post-43244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trivia","tag-famous-not-so-famous-sax-players","tag-health-saxophones","tag-trivia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t