How Teeth Affect Speech and Sounds?
Teeth and Speech
Your teeth and the way you talk are closely linked. For example, did you know that your teeth help you pronounce the letter ‘f’? They are also responsible for allowing you to pronounce the letters ‘s’, ‘z’ and ‘g’ as well as the combination sounds of ‘sh’ and ‘ch’. When you are missing several teeth, especially your front teeth, or have a severe over, under or crossbite, you may develop speech problems that may make it difficult for other people to understand you. This is true for children who lose their baby teeth too early due to cavities and tooth decay. Improperly spaced teeth or crowded and crooked teeth can also affect speech because they can affect the tongue placement. This can lead to lisps and whistling while talking when air is sucked in through the gaps in the teeth.
If you or your child has a speech problem, it may be due to the placement of the teeth or having several missing teeth. Before you schedule an appointment with your local speech therapist, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with our family dentist in Melbourne, FL first to see if the problem is linked to you or your child’s teeth.
Replacing Missing Teeth for Better Speech
If you’re an adult who is missing one or more teeth, there are several tooth replacement options available, including removable and fixed bridges, dental implants, and dentures. These tooth replacement options can give you a full mouth of teeth so that you can speak clearly, just like you did before you started needing tooth extractions.
Help Your Child Keep His or Her Baby Teeth
To help children keep their baby teeth, it’s important to monitor your child while he or she is brushing their teeth and even to brush your child’s teeth again after they finish. This makes it less likely that food particles and plaque will remain on the teeth for an extended period of time and lead to cavities, tooth decay, and the premature loss of baby teeth.
Braces for Improved Speech
When you or your child has a pronounced overbite, underbite, crossbite, or crooked, crowded, and improperly spaced teeth, braces and clear aligners can help. As the teeth are moved into their proper positions, tongue placement and lip placement improves, which can lead to better overall speech and word pronunciation.
Dental Implants and Clear Braces
Here at Artistic Touch dentistry in Melbourne, FL, our dentist can examine your mouth or your child’s mouth to determine if the teeth are affecting the way you speak. If it is determined that missing teeth or crooked, crowded, and improperly spaced teeth or bad bites are affecting the way your lips and tongue move while speaking, we can recommend a treatment program.
New Teeth Replacement Options
- Dentures – Full or partial removable or fixed dentures that can replace several or all of your teeth.
- Dental Bridges – Replaces several teeth anywhere in your mouth, can be fixed or removable.
- Dental Implants – Replaces one or more teeth. Involves the insertion of a titanium post into the gum tissue and jaw, as well as a dental crown that forms the tooth portion of the implant.
Teeth Straightening Options
- Invisalign Clear Braces – These are removable, clear aligning trays that are virtually invisible.
- Traditional Braces – Metal or ceramic braces affixed to the fronts of each tooth to help correct crooked teeth and problems with your bite.
Dental Cleanings in Melbourne, FL
It’s also important not to forget your regular dental cleaning appointments in Melbourne for both yourself and your children. Dental cleaning and examinations can help find problems, like tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth alignment problems when they are more easily treated. You can also ask all your dental questions during your appointments.