Do you hate not being able to speak clearly, especially words with / s /, / sh /, / f /, / t /, / th /, and more sounds, for your false teeth? Are you self-conscious about speaking in public now with your teeth?
These are common challenges that many denture users have overcome by following some key tips from denture professionals and speech instructors.
With time, patience, and exercise, you can update the sound of your speech.
Hour: First, you need time to adjust from the extraction of your teeth so that your swelling decreases, your gums recede and your pain is reduced due to the continuous adjustments of successfully placing your dentures. Always check with your dentist or healthcare professional for support until you are satisfied.
Patience: The muscles in your mouth help you chew and speak, so your second hit comes when you realize how difficult it is to chew. Your jaw, tongue, lips, and teeth must be in sync around your dentures in order to solve this process. It takes patience to chew and swallow without gagging. Eating soft foods or liquid soups and drinks will gradually begin to chew on bread and more solid foods.
Training: Speech exercises intended to retrain where your tongue and other speech muscles should go are the same as if you had to retrain your arm or leg muscles after surgery. The muscles of speech: jaw, lips, tongue, teeth, palate (roof of the mouth); and your facial and neck muscles are part of your speaking equipment to get things going again.
For example, the lower movable jaw must be more flexible to allow speech sounds to resonate out of your mouth. Stretching your jaw slowly and relaxing it will create a more flexible jaw. Massaging your face and releasing tension in your neck and shoulders prevents high-pitched sounds.
Your tongue needs to know where to position itself because there are new dentures that block where it would normally stretch. For example, try saying this classic phrase for an exercise: “Speak with your lips, teeth, and the tip of your tongue.”
Repeating the tongue twisters slowly will help your tongue position itself where the ridge of the gums used to be, tapping behind the front teeth on your new dentures for words with / t /, / d / and / n / sounds. Proof: “Danny dated Donna Doon every day.”
Your lips play a role in / m /, / p / and / b / words when touched: “Mommy bought baby rubber bumpers.”
Being able to slightly arch the tongue towards the upper soft palate will train those guttural sounds of / g /, / c /, / k /, and / ng /: “The clock chimed with a plaintive gong.”
Allow the air to flow or hiss slowly over your tongue during / s /, and around the sides to / sh /, she will tell her tongue where to lie in her mouth to avoid a lisp or hiss: “Surely your sister Sue can show customers our shoes.”
In general, repeating reading aloud, saying tongue twisters, and having more conversations while wearing your dentures will improve your speaking skills. The advantage is that your confidence will grow and your shyness will disappear.
