Clarinet with braces?

[emilyhamptoncakeslice]

DD (12) is about to get fixed braces and has also said she wants to take up the clarinet. Will this be ok?

My DD is a clarinet player. She is now in 6th form and hoping to go on to music college. She had fixed braces on her upper teeth for a year aged 12. It took some getting used to but she was fine.

She is at specialist music school and the advice we were given was to try and avoid braces on the bottom set. We were able to do this so it was ok.

When playing the clarinet the bottom lip comes in over the teeth so it could be pretty painful with braces on as they could cut into the lip.

Thanks
She will definitely need lower teeth braces.
I've read online that people w braces can adjust but I wonder what it's like if you are beginning to learn?

I used to play saxophone (which has a similar mouthpiece) when I had my braces on both upper and lower teeth. It was a bit sore sometimes if my braces had been tightened, but for the most part it was fine.

You definitely do feel the vibrations more but it is very doable! If she's keen on clarinet then there's no harm seeing how it goes. Unless there's a non-wind instrument that equally takes her fancy?

I play the flute, and had train track braces top and bottom (many years ago!). I was given some wax by my orthodontist to put over the brackets while playing - it made it quite a bit more comfortable. Might be worth asking if that's still possible.