Saxophone playing and invisaligns

Message

#1 Post by **TTplasticmouth** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:10 am

Does anyone play a musical instrument in invisaligns? I have tried with them in, and I cannot play my sax. If I take them out to play the sax, I am afraid of my teeth being pushed in the wrong direction and more soreness/less effectiveness. I am in a small band which plays at a large church every few weeks. (My income does not depend on the sax, but I miss it).

#2 Post by **jeni** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:58 am

Yes. I play clarinet and trumpet without problem. It just takes some getting used to and will probably require a change in your embouchure. My guess is that your mouth isn't as tight around the reed as it needs to be to make sound due to the Invisalign because you are used to playing without the Invisalign. Good luck adjusting!

#3 Post by **TTplasticmouth** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:11 am

You mean you play while the invisaligns are actually in your mouth? I appreciate if you would confirm that fact.

#4 Post by **jeni** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:11 pm

yep. I play while they are actually in my mouth.

#5 Post by **TTplasticmouth** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:15 am

I have tried to play for weeks with the invisaligns in and just went back to taking them out first. I have gotten so efficient with pulling them in and out that no one notices when I have my head in the sax case.

#6 Post by **TTplasticmouth** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:54 pm

I am doing well with wearing my liners, but take them out to play my alto sax. I have been doing great. Only an issue the first 24 hours after putting in new trays as the teeth are sore. There is no need to give up your instrument with invisaligns.

#7 Post by **Fishamble** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:15 am

Thanks for updating this thread to report your experience.

I started with Clearstep (basically the same as Invisalign) 10 months ago, and was playing clarinet a lot at the time (2 - 4 hours a day). I tried playing with and without the braces. To be honest, I was not happy leaving them out for any longer than it takes to eat - when they're out there's a constant voice at the back of my head saying "Put them back in, or you'll be wearing them forever!" But, I wasn't happy with my level of playing with them in. What to do?

I reluctantly resigned myself to an indefinite future of playing at a much lower level, and perhaps taking a raincheck from music for a couple of years. Of course I found myself drifting back to playing becuase I missed it - when I did, it was always with my braces in. It took a couple of months, but I did get back to the standard I'd been at previously, and since then the braces have not held me back one bit.

I agree that changing braces every couple of weeks has an affect due to soreness, and also in my case becuase the new braces always feel slightly different, which affects my embouchure in small but noticable ways. Recently, I've noticed that the way my teeth address the mouthpiece and reed is changing very noticably - becuase my teeth are getting straight. I'm convinced that this has improved my control over my sound, especially in the altissimo.

Sorry for the long post. In short, it is possible to play with the braces in, but it does take some getting used to.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:32 am

I have been playing my flute with my aligners in and it has been fine:)

Metal Mouth Message Board