Adventures with mouthpiece pads

I have teeth issues. My upper left incisor is dead. I Had root canal treatment over 30 years ago after some hideous toothache. It was probably the result of one of the punches in the mouth I suffered as a young man. Anyhow. That tooth has slowly turned grey/brown over the years and has become a tad wobbly.

So to protect it I do all my biting and gnawing on the right. The result is a right incisor that is much sharper.

This is a long lead up to saying I gnawed quite a dent in my alto mouthpiece. I tried not to put too much pressure on, but it just happened. So I tried the standard commercial black mouthpiece pads. They work. But up to a point. It's not long before I'm spitting bits of rubber while playing.

Then I tried the white ones, thinking that they may be made out of different plastic. I may be wrong ( I've not carried out scientific tests here) but they do seem to offer more resistance, and last about twice as long as the black ones.

This is no hardship, really. These things are pretty cheap, but the frugal voice inside me does rail against the ongoing expense. And the "spitting rubber" stage can be a bit annoying.

So I've had a go at making my own. I found a couple of double-sided sticky pads in a drawer and used one to stick a piece of plastic milk bottle to the mouthpiece.

This one has lasted ages. It's become dented and marked, but I've not bitten through. The sticky has become a bit detached at the lead corners after playing, But so far I've managed to push it back and re-stick them.

I'm pretty happy with this, especially as my current tenor mouthpiece is a vintage one. (It has its own story that I'll tell you about anon). So I'm not worrying about damaging it.

I know. I need to work on my embouchure and not bite so hard. But in the meantime...