Hello All,

Yesterday, I had my second premolar on my jaw pulled out.

I am not sure when I can start playing Clarinet again? I have decided to play in a week's time.

I forgot to ask my Dentist about it as I was too stressed.

I have already applied for Grade 5 exam for session A and I am expecting a date in early March. My pieces are in decent form and a week's practice should sort them out. But I am yet to memorise more than half of the scales (I reckon I would need two weeks of practice for that). A bit stressed about it now.

I am sure there must be other woodwind players who have had their tooth pulled out. How long did you take before starting you started playing again?

Thanks!!

P.S.: It's my permanent tooth not milk tooth

Hi Balu114, comiserations on having a tooth out

I'm not an expert on losing teeth (never done it) or playing clarinets (done it once, never again) but I do know a fair bit about practising when you're not fit enough to use your instrument.

You could put your practice time this week towards learning those scales. Assemble your instrument and hold it as normal. Choose a scale and move your hands to finger each note in turn, thinking of the note name as you do so. I found doing this made me concentrate far more on what comes next in each scale than just playing through did.

A couple of days should see you OK to play - I had a molar extracted a few years ago, and have had some rather nasty dental work from time to time since then, and have always been fine to play my clarinet the next day. I don't think you need to take a whole week off!

Agree with jo.clarinet.

b-c (30 out of 32 teeth left )

Thank you katyjay. That's a very good idea. I will practice the fingers without actually blowing the horn!

jo.clarinet and b-c: Thank you. I hope I can play in couple of days. My jaw is tender however and I don't want to do something stupid and regret it later.

(29/32 teeth left)

I can't remember how long I took off after the extractions I had, it was more than 25 years ago. Mouths heal remarkably fast. If it feels alright I'm pretty sure it'll be fine to play. In the meantime maybe do some aural practise or fingering through the scales.

The main thing is not to disturb the clot that forms in the socket - if you knock this off, it can lead to a nasty thing called a 'dry socket' (been there, done that, not recommended), but I think your plan to wait a week sounds fine - it should be well on the way to healing by then. And definitely do some finger practice in the mean time.

BTDT (well it was a wisdom tooth for me). My problem was that it was quite a long extraction and so with one nurse pair of hands one dentist pair of hands and a lot of instruments messing around in there my cheek muscles ended up very sore/bruised and it was a couple of weeks before I could play high notes as I couldn't tighten my embouchure enough (sort of - your cheeks need to be taut to play with any sort of control!). I had an audition over that period and I got looked at like I was making excuses... (HUH! pianists, no clue). I did start playing again in a couple of days but I had to take it gently. I would do silent practice for a week if I were you...

Thank you, all of you! I appreciate your comments and advice.

That is definitely MORE than enough!


As long as you practice, you'll do fine! (I go INTO exams not know a quarter of my scales and come out with a merit mark! )


It took me about 3 days, also remember to use the hot water-salt solution, it helps it heal quicker.


I agree. |That would help a LOT!... And you are so lucky! I've already had 4 milk teeth and 4 adult teeth taken out!