JP7551162B2 - Lower lip protector for musicians - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a lower lip protection sheet that is worn on the teeth by players of woodwind instruments such as clarinets and saxophones to protect the lower lip.

When playing a woodwind instrument that uses reeds, players place their lower lip slightly over their lower teeth and hold the mouthpiece in their mouth. When doing so, the player's lower lip is easily compressed between the mouthpiece of the instrument and the tips of their lower teeth, which can cause pain. Furthermore, if a player practices or plays in this position, their lower lip can get cut by being pinched between their lower teeth and the instrument, and these cuts can lead to the development of stomatitis.

For this reason, many musicians wear sheets to protect their lower lips while playing. Cleaning paper or blotting paper is usually used as a lower lip protection sheet. Musicians fold the cleaning paper or blotting paper small to fit the size of their lower teeth before wearing it. However, when using cleaning paper or blotting paper, there are many issues, such as problems with the fit to the teeth and durability, as well as the tendency for them to slip off while playing. Furthermore, as these products are not originally intended for playing musical instruments, they pose hygiene problems and are unreliable when playing.

Patent Document 1 discloses a performance adapter as a technology that solves these problems. This performance adapter uses a thermoplastic material that deforms when heated with hot water above a certain temperature and hardens when cooled with tap water after deformation, making it possible to take an impression of teeth.

JP 2000-89751 A

The playing adapter disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires processing work to prevent slippage when or after the dental impression is taken. If the player is not accustomed to this processing work, it will have to be done repeatedly, and the process of putting it on and using it will be a burden on the player. In addition, since it loses viscosity when it hardens, there is also the problem that it will easily come off when playing. For this reason, there is a demand for a lower lip protection sheet that requires less processing work, is easy to use, and does not slip easily when playing, but at present, such a lower lip protection sheet is not available.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a lower lip protection sheet that requires less processing work, is easy to use, and does not shift easily when playing.

One aspect of the present invention is a lower lip protection sheet for woodwind instrument players, which has a sheet piece made of a material that softens at a temperature equivalent to human body temperature and maintains the softened state while sensing that temperature, and is characterized in that the sheet piece is molded to a size that covers the portion of the player's lower central incisors that comes into contact with the player's lower lip.

The present invention makes it possible to realize a lower lip protection sheet that can be used easily without any processing work and that softens to fit closely to the mandibular central incisors and absorb any misalignment.

An explanatory diagram of the lower lip protection sheet when worn while playing. 1A to 1D are explanatory diagrams of a method for attaching a sheet piece. FIG. 13 is an exemplary diagram of a mount to which a plurality of sheet pieces are attached. 13A and 13B are explanatory diagrams illustrating a case where the sheet pieces are attached by overlapping each other.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in which the present invention is applied to a lower lip protection sheet used by players of woodwind instruments such as clarinets and saxophones. The lower lip protection sheet of this embodiment has a sheet piece and a backing paper to which the sheet piece is attached when not in use.
1 is an explanatory diagram of the attached state of the sheet piece. Before playing, a player of a woodwind instrument 20 attaches the sheet piece 10 to the lower central incisors 30, which are the lower teeth. The player holds the mouthpiece 21 with the reed 22 attached in his mouth, slightly covers the teeth with the lower lip 31, and plays with the mouthpiece 21 of the woodwind instrument 20 placed on the lower lip 31.

The sheet piece 10 acts as a cushioning material between the player's lower central incisors 30 and lower lip 31, protecting the lower lip 31 from the lower central incisors 30. The upper teeth 32, together with the upper lip 33, come into contact with the top of the mouthpiece 21.

The sheet piece 10 is attached according to the procedure shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2(a), the sheet piece 10 is a beveled rectangle. When attached, the sheet piece 10 is folded in half from approximately the center of the long side. The folded sheet piece 10 is attached so that the folded part covers the tip of the mandibular central incisor 30 (FIG. 2(b) and FIG. 2(c)). The tip of the mandibular central incisor 30 is the part that comes into contact with the player's lower lip 31. At this time, the sheet piece 10 softens with body temperature and adheres closely to the mandibular central incisor 30 (including by adhesion or pressure), making it less likely to slip during playing.

Figure 2(d) is a front view of the player's lower front teeth when the sheet piece 10 is worn. The tip of the mandibular central incisor 30 is covered by the sheet piece 10, preventing the tip of the mandibular central incisor 30 from directly contacting the player's lower lip 31. This protects the player's lower lip 31 from the tip of the mandibular central incisor 30, preventing injury.

Figure 3 is an example of the mount of the lower lip protection sheet. A plurality of sheet pieces 10 are attached to the mount 11. The sheet pieces 10 are molded to a size that covers the portion of the performer's lower central incisors 30 that contacts the performer's lower lip 31. In this embodiment, the sheet pieces 10 are, for example, a chamfered rectangle with a size of 22.0 [mm] x 18.0 [mm] and a thickness of 0.5 [mm]. The mount 11 is, for example, a rectangle with a size of 88.0 [mm] x 48.0 [mm]. For this purpose, eight sheet pieces 10 are attached to the mount 11. Note that the size and thickness of the sheet pieces 10 are merely examples, and other sizes and thicknesses may be used. For example, the size of the sheet pieces 10 may be 22.0 ± 3.0 [mm] x 18.0 ± 3.0 [mm], and the thickness may be about 0.3 to 2.0 [mm]. Furthermore, the size of the sheet piece 10 may be the maximum size that can be attached to the mount 11. In this case, only one sheet piece 10 is attached to the mount 11, and the size is appropriately adjusted with scissors or the like before use.

The sheet pieces 10 are sold and stored in such a state that they are attached to the mount 11. When using the sheet pieces 10, the performer peels the sheet pieces 10 off the mount 11, folds them in half, and attaches them to the mandibular central incisors 30. Because the sheet pieces 10 have a chamfered shape, the sheet pieces 10 do not come into contact with the surrounding gums when attached to the teeth, causing the performer no pain. In addition, because the sheet pieces 10 are 0.5 mm thick, the discomfort felt by the performer when wearing them is reduced.

The sheet piece 10 softens at a temperature equivalent to human body temperature. In other words, the sheet piece 10 maintains its softened state while the performer holds it in their mouth, i.e., while it senses body heat. This allows the sheet piece 10 to maintain its softened state and cover the tip of the mandibular central incisor 30 while playing. Furthermore, the sheet piece 10 adheres closely to the mandibular central incisor 30 while deforming to fit the shape of the teeth without using an adhesive material. By having the sheet piece 10 adhere closely to the mandibular central incisor 30, the risk of the sheet piece 10 slipping off the teeth during use and disrupting playing can be reduced.

In other words, the sheet piece 10 need only be a sheet that maintains a softened state at temperatures near body temperature, for example at least in the range of 28°C to 40°C, that can deform within that temperature range without the use of an adhesive material to adhere closely to the teeth, and that is made of a material that is harmless to the human body.
The material used for such sheet piece 10 may be, for example, a resin sheet that exhibits flexibility and is deformable at temperatures close to the body temperature of the human body. The resin sheet is, for example, a foamed resin such as an olefin-based foamed resin. The glass transition point of the resin sheet is preferably 28° C. or lower. Since the glass transition point is lower than the body temperature, the sheet piece 10 is warmed by the body temperature when worn, and fits to the teeth.

The material of the sheet piece 10 may be, for example, silicone, urethane rubber, acrylic rubber, nitrile rubber, hydrin rubber, butyl rubber, styrene butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, fluororubber, etc.

In addition, the sheet piece 10 can be made of a sheet containing, for example, alginic acid, an adhesive component of seaweed, or a number of other adhesive components. This sheet is made of, for example, nonwoven fabric (cellulose acetate, regenerated cellulose, titanium oxide, acrylic polymer), sodium alginate, highly polymerized polyethylene glycol, sodium carmellose, etc. The adhesive strength of such a sheet is 5 kPa or more.

The sheet pieces 10 can be made of a silicone material whose main skeleton is a siloxane bond (-Si-O-Si-). Silicone materials whose main skeleton is a siloxane bond (-Si-O-Si-) have molecules with a helix structure (coil shape) and are more elastic than organic rubber or organic synthetic resin. While the brittle point of organic rubber is -20°C to -30°C, the brittle point of inorganic silicone materials whose main skeleton is a siloxane bond is -60°C to -70°C, so they retain their elasticity even at temperatures where other types of elastic materials become brittle, and have excellent low-temperature properties.

Rubber-based silicone materials are known to have a hardness index that indicates hardness (softness). For example, according to the Japan Rubber Association Standard (SRIS0101), a hardness of 5 degrees or more but less than 30 degrees measured with a Type A durometer (JIS K6253) is classified as "low hardness", 30 degrees or more but less than 50 degrees is "medium hardness", and 50 degrees or more is "high hardness". Low hardness is said to be about the hardness of human skin, about 40 degrees is close to the hardness of an eraser, 60 degrees to 70 degrees is close to the hardness of a car tire, and 80 degrees is close to the hardness of a mouse ball. Hardness is determined by the amount of silica-based powder filler added. In this embodiment, a sheet of silicone material with a hardness of 5 degrees or more but less than 30 degrees is flexible enough to be used as a lower lip protection sheet.

The alignment of the teeth, especially the alignment of the lower teeth, plays a major role in causing damage to the lower lip 31 during playing. In contrast, the sheet piece 10 of this embodiment is thin (0.5 mm thick) but has high cushioning properties. Because the sheet piece 10 has cushioning properties, the force exerted by the mandibular central incisors 30 on the lower lip 31 when the mouthpiece 21 is held in the mouth is distributed to the sheet piece 10. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the sheet piece 10 covers the mandibular central incisors 30 and becomes soft, allowing the alignment of the lower teeth to be uniform. This distributes the pressure on the lower lip 31 by the mouthpiece 21 during playing, reducing the risk of the mandibular central incisors 30 directly injuring the lower lip 31 during playing.

Furthermore, if there is uneven pressure from the mouthpiece 21 on the lower lip 31, noise and uneven sound caused by turbulent airflow are likely to occur. In contrast, the sheet piece 10 of this embodiment softens during use, dispersing the pressure from the mouthpiece 21 on the lower lip 31. This makes the gap between the mouthpiece 21 and the lower lip 31 uniform, suppressing the occurrence of noise and uneven sound caused by turbulent airflow. This makes it easier to ensure stable, "consistent sound quality."

In addition, since the sheet piece 10 softens during use, it deforms to fit the shape of the teeth, improving the fit to the teeth. This prevents the sheet piece 10 from slipping off the teeth while playing. After playing (after use), the sheet piece 10 is removed from the mandibular central incisor 30 and discarded. In other words, the sheet piece 10 is a disposable type.

Depending on the type of instrument and the performer's playing style, wearing only one sheet piece 10 may not be enough to prevent scratches on the lower lip 31, noise, and uneven sound. Some performers may also feel that a single sheet piece 10 does not provide a suitable playing feel. In this case, the lower lip protection sheet of this embodiment may be composed of multiple laminated sheet pieces 10. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the case where the sheet pieces are worn in a layered manner. Here, the case where two sheet pieces 10 are used in a layered manner will be described.

The performer peels off the number of sheet pieces 10 to be used from the backing 11 shown in FIG. 3 and folds them in half. Here, the performer peels off two sheet pieces 10 from the backing 11, stacks them, and folds them in half at approximately the center of the long side (FIG. 4(a)). The performer wears the folded sheet piece 10 so that the folded part abuts against the tip of the mandibular central incisor 30 (FIG. 4(b)). This allows the sheet piece 10 in contact with the mandibular central incisor 30 to adhere closely to the mandibular central incisor 30, making it less likely to slip when playing.

The sheet pieces 10 of this embodiment are made of a material that adheres closely to the mandibular central incisors 30. The sheet pieces 10 have self-adhesive properties that allow them to be stacked in multiple sheets and detached after stacking without using an adhesive material. Due to this self-adhesive property, the multiple sheet pieces 10 are pseudo-adhered by pressure, and have the performance of being less likely to slip even when stacked. Therefore, multiple sheet pieces 10 can be easily stacked and attached to the mandibular central incisors 30, and the stacked sheet pieces 10 can be removed from the mandibular central incisors 30 after use.

By stacking multiple sheet pieces 10, even players who have a habit of biting the mouthpiece 21 too hard or who have poor tooth alignment can fully prevent damage to the lower lip 31, noise, and uneven sound. In addition, for players who are concerned about fine details, the thickness of the lower lip protection sheet can be adjusted.

The larger the size of the sheet piece 10, the stronger its adhesion to the teeth, preventing it from slipping off during playing. However, if it is too large, the sheet piece 10 may cover teeth that do not actually need to be covered, or may come into contact with the frenulum connecting the gums and lower lip, which may hinder a comfortable performance. For this reason, the size of the sheet piece 10 may be adjusted as appropriate by the performer. The shape of the sheet piece 10 may also be molded as appropriate by the performer. Such sheet pieces 10 are preferably made of a material that is easy to process with scissors, etc.

As described above, the lower lip protection sheet of this embodiment can be easily processed into a shape before use, and has sheet pieces 10 with a predetermined adhesiveness. As a result, the lower lip protection sheet of this embodiment requires less processing work and is easier to use than conventional playing adapters that require a dental impression. Also, compared to cleaning paper and blotting paper that are currently used as substitutes for protecting the lower lip, the sheet pieces 10 can be peeled off from the backing 11 and used immediately, and because they adhere to the teeth, they are less likely to slip during use, reducing discomfort when playing.

Claims (6)

A lower lip protector for a woodwind player, comprising:
a sheet piece made of a material that softens at a temperature equivalent to human body temperature and maintains the softened state while the temperature is being sensed;
The lower lip protection sheet is characterized in that the sheet piece is molded to a size that covers the portion of the player's lower central incisors that comes into contact with the player's lower lip. The sheet piece is made of a foamed resin.
The lower lip protective sheet according to claim 1. The sheet piece is made of an olefin-based foamed resin.
The lower lip protective sheet according to claim 2. The lower lip protection sheet according to claim 3, characterized in that the sheet piece adheres closely to the mandibular central incisor without the use of an adhesive material. The lower lip protection sheet according to claim 3, characterized in that the sheet pieces have an adhesive property that allows them to be stacked in multiple sheets or to be separated after stacking without using an adhesive material. A plurality of the sheet pieces are laminated by pseudo-adhesion by pressing.
The lower lip protective sheet according to claim 5.

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