TromboneChat

Hi, I have never had any pain playing but now my wisdom teeth are growing and I am not able to study more than 30 non stop so it's so painful when I play several hours in orchestra or in a recital. My dentist told that the teeth will have no problem coming out in 18/24 months but I can remove then with surgery.
Have anyone had any similar experience? Can be the surgery an option or can it make me stop me to play for a long time?
(By the way I don't have any pain in my daily life only playing)
Thanks

If you have the teeth pulled you will have to stop playing while the sockets heal. That cure may be worse than the disease.

Have you considered using a teething product like Anbesol? You would rub it on the gums where the teeth are erupting and it should dull the pain.

Tbone00 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:24 pm Hi, I have never had any pain playing but now my wisdom teeth are growing and I am not able to study more than 30 non stop so it's so painful when I play several hours in orchestra or in a recital. My dentist told that the teeth will have no problem coming out in 18/24 months but I can remove then with surgery.
Have anyone had any similar experience? Can be the surgery an option or can it make me stop me to play for a long time?
(By the way I don't have any pain in my daily life only playing)
Thanks

Yes, I went through this exactly. I was an idiot student and didn't realize a lot of things. First I didn't know about asking for help when I was in pain, I didn't know about health insurance, and a million other things. I was a tough nut, but not very smart.

My wisdom teeth hit me in my second year of conservatory. I was playing ~4-6 hours a day. I just muscled through it. Most people get their wisdom teeth pulled, but I still have mine (40 years later). My teeth shifted around a lot while this was happening, and there was a lot of pain/discomfort. I learned to play without unnecessary pressure.

I'd suggest if you have insurance to cover it, get it done. It's one of those things that you probably can't avoid, so you should just deal with it one way or another. Allow yourself some time to recover, and blank out your musical schedule for a few weeks. Have the procedure done at a time you choose instead of waiting for an emergency to dictate your schedule.

Best of luck. You can be smarter about this than I was. Get it done.

Have them pulled

I had mine surgically removed when I was 16, before they even grew. My dentist recommended it based on something...? Two weeks or more with no playing. No big deal at the time.

Have them pulled. Assuming your dentist recommends it..?

Don't play or buzz or anything for at least two weeks. You do not want air pressure to cause problems.

Thanks for the advices, I will keep it in mind! If it is only a few weeks of non playing, It would be silly spending more than a year with pain in my teeth

Typically you will need 2 to 4 weeks for the sockets to heal. Maybe there is a point where there is a lull in your playing for that. Otherwise, look into the Anbesol.

While you heal from the extraction, it’s a good time to practice sight singing, part reading and writing, rhythms, listening, etc. You can still do a lot musically even if you’re unable to play.

Generally speaking, the younger you have them pulled the better. I just had mine pulled last year at 30 (because British dentistry is very much not the same as American dentistry) and it was much rougher for me as a result. I bled for two days, got Dry Socket in one corner, then had some nerve damage develop under my lip on one side that took about 2-3 months to disappear.

All that being said, I played an immovable recording session one week after they were pulled, and it was painful but doable. Then I took another break til the dry socket all healed up. The nerve damage didn’t actually affect my playing at all, thankfully, just the sensation under my lip was greatly dulled.

All in all, I didn’t have a great time of it. But I still recommend doing it IF that’s what your dentist suggests. A couple weeks off now is better than gum disease down the line.

When I was around 30 years old, I disregarded my dentist's repeated advice to get my impacted wisdom teeth removed. I wasn't experiencing any pain, so I figured it would be OK. As it turned out, one of my wisdom teeth became very painful, and I then agreed with the dental surgeon that all my wisdom teeth should come out. He warned me that there might be complications because I had waited so long, and he was right; removal was extremely difficult.

After the novocaine wore off, my lower right lip remained numb and unresponsive. A nerve channel in my lower jaw had been damaged. I was able to eat, but I could not play any of my brass instruments, because air would just pass through my lower right lip. The surgeon said that it might not ever get better, but he said to let him know if feeling came back. He passed away before sensation started to return, and it had taken almost 30 years before I could hold enough air in my oral cavity to make a sound on a brass instrument. It took about 3 more years for 99% of feeling would return, and things have been fine for 7 years now.

There's a message in my story that I think most people contemplating wisdom teeth removal can understand.

Defiinitely pull early than late. Heal faster, no other tooth movement. Schedule a recheck with the surgeon when he thinks sockets will be healed for playing. Time is way less painful than dealing with complications.

That last sentence wins.

I do not remember any playing difficulty during the healing period when the buds were removed.

Mine were removed some 30-odd years ago, well after I had finished with braces. One was impacted, and the rest were comparatively easy to remove. I tried playing about two weeks afterwards, but wasn’t able to due to pain and pressure. I tried again one month later, and was able to play. It took a while to adjust to the different feeling in the mouth, but after a few weeks I got used to it.

Get them pulled!

....or pay the consequences years later (save your money!!!!)

Even though I had mine surgically pulled when I was 20, I have a small jaw and my teeth were already pretty crooked by then as well. (I thought I'd lose them while playing junior hockey after high school, but they proved too tough to get knocked out!)j

So, you can still play trombone with less than perfect teeth.

But, you have to think of the future problems that overcrowding can lead to. Things like very hard to clean areas between the teeth, future root canals, possible gum problems, etc. etc.

I'm lucky to have found a great dentist a few years ago when I had to get a tooth transplant due to it breaking off from years of overcrowding, pressure, unclean, etc.

Get the wisdom teeth pulled to make more room in your face for the other teeth to grow in naturally.

AND....use a toothpaste with Fluoride in it!!!!!!! (...don't think that 'being natural' means using non-fluoride toothpaste....that helped me learn things the hard way.)

Get your teeth cleaned regularly; or, start saving your money now for numerous visits to the dentist.

I had mine done when I was young and had no issues with complication. But i was really careful to follow all the instructions. I did not want to go back a second time, it was a little invasive.

My current dentist charges an extra $250, not covered by insurance, to put some magic powder under my tongue. Then he comes back in the room and i ask him when we'll start, and he says "you're all done, your ride is here." Of course I don't do that for a simple filling but if there's major work to do that's the only way to go.

Removal of wisdom teeth won't be affecting your career. If it is bothering you so much you can have a consultation with the dentist from a reputed dental clinics https://www.bloorwestsmiles.com/dental- ... y-toronto/

Mine are removed as well, came in crooked and were messing up the other teeth.
The removal was an extreme experience, felt like my jaw is gonna snap, but the recovery was 2 weeks and back to normal. Glad I had it done