An interesting article that caught my eye...

Makes me understand why my husband is so crazy about brushing his teeth before he plays his tuba:

http://www.vpr.net/npr/129725678/

Kind of gross, right? 

Now, I am not exactly an angel when it comes to eating and playing...in fact I've been known to teach or practice while drinking coffee (tee hee...).  But I think us woodwinders have an advantage over brass players - we actually get to swab out our instruments all the time.  Now, I'm not sure all the crud gets out, but it helps.  Honestly, I don't think the inside of my instrument is dirty at all...I have had my instrument for 6 years and it is clean as a whistle inside - I would feel comfortable eat off it if that were possible.

Now it sounds gross, but I usually try to "swish" out the chunks of whatever I have just eaten with water or whatever I've got on hand (celery sticks are great for "cleaning out" your mouth!) before I blow on my instrument.  But I never ever brush my teeth...I don't see a real need for it.

I do try to refrain from snacks during rehearsal breaks...I usually give string/piano players the evil eye to make sure they leave me and my woodwind friends some for after rehearsal is over.  The only reason I do this is because I don't want crumbs getting stuck in my reed/mouthpiece!  Not because I'm concerned of the potential germs, haha.

 So call me a bad girl, but I don't care!