Posted by Jay Bertolet on March 17, 1999 at 10:15:37:
In Reply to: Questions about braces (the teeth kind)!! HELP posted by Antonio on March 16, 1999 at 20:13:16:
The Principal Trumpet player in our orchestra went through this himself and he suggested the following solution which he used:
Go to a sporting equipment store like a Sports Authority or some such and buy a mouth guard, like a footbal player uses. Take it home and boil it for a while until it gets nice and soft. Now here is the tricky part, while the mouthpiece is still soft, but not hot enough to burn you, put it in your mouth and form it to your braces and teeth. Be VERY careful not to burn yourself, but the guard must still be hot enough to be pliable. Once you get it in there, be sure and press on it pretty hard to form it as close as possible to your teeth and braces. The object here is to make something that will keep the braces from coming in contact with the back of the lips but not feel intrusive or uncomfortable.
The advantage of this technique is that these mouth guards are relatively inexpensive. They won't last forever so you might consider buying a few (depending on how long your brother has the braces) and keeping them around to duplicate the procedure as necessary. Our trumpeter swore by this method, he said it worked great and he could play as if the braces were no factor at all. Good luck!