Well, for the future there is a lot of work ahead of us. There are a few places of the Aid that need to be redesigned. For example, at the moment, the contact surface between the Aid and the mouthpiece is not regular enough, causing the mouthpiece to rotate and slide from side to side. Ideally in the future, the inner part (back of the teeth) will be milled in a better shape also to match the arch of the mouthpiece. It will recreate the natural arch that keeps the mouthpiece in place. This will instantly improve the sound of the Aid.
The future for PlayAid is to help musicians who suffered serious injuries which threatened their ability to play but this embouchure support device can also simply offer a more comfortable playing and a better sound to players like me who only have a small asymmetry.
The steps I have to complete before reaching this goal are still related to testing. My objective is to focus on the comfort of use and sound quality. I'll achieve that with some new prototypes that I'll try on myself.
Next, I want to test the Aid on more players, preferably of advanced age. In that regard, I'm aiming to get in contact with Dutch wind bands, ensembles, and orchestras to offer some players to take part in the testing phase. The candidates will self-assess their dental condition looking for embouchure discomfort through this FORM and find more information about the initiative on the website PlayAid.com.
Testing the first prototype had a positive outcome.
The way the Aid was fitting my teeth was amazing, it felt comfortable and it had a stable grip on them.
Originally it was very important for me to be able to make small adjustments to the braces at home, therefor Henk produced the prototypes with some extra polycarbonate that I could scrape away to get the perfect height for my tooth. So under his advice, I used a grain400 waterproof sandpaper and the result was quickly there.
On December 6th 2022, I took my clarinet and went to Hoorn to Merlijn’s practice. We had a great time and while there, I had the honour to meet his father Dr Hessel de Vries, the founder of this Dental Practice. As I quickly explained about mine and Merlijn’s project, he told me that he used to play the clarinet himself, but he had to stop because he broke his upper incisors while playing hockey and he didn’t trust playing any more.
We took the impressions of my teeth using two different methods. The first one, the classic, was a normal impression but to add more detail about my jaw alignment, Merlijn inserted some impression plaster between my molars and made me assume the embouchure position.
After making the impressions, I took them to Henk’s laboratory near Gauda. I was astonished when I first entered. There was a quantity of cutting-edge technology that was whirring on every side.
The usual feeling of pressure on my teeth was completely gone, and I can already see the advantage of using PlayAid.
