Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everybody,

I´m a bit worried, because next Monday 9th, I´ll be wearing upper lingualcare braces. The main concern for me is to be able to speak clear. How much does it take to speak perfect? I´ll take a week off, do you think I could be able to come back to work (to an office) without nobody knowing about it a week after? Thanks in advance, and sorry for my bad English, excuse me

Ainhoa.

Hey AG,

Welcome to the wonderful world of linguals. I have upper and lower linguals. I've had them for almost 7 weeks. It took me about 2 weeks to start sounding better. I didn't start to sound completely like myself until the 4th or 5th week. There are still certain sounds that sound a little funny (the "s" sound), but overall, I'm talking (and eating) normally.

Good luck on your journey. It will all pay off in the end.

Like p.maxwell says, it takes a bit of work. I sounded a bit fuzzy for the first few weeks and still work on the "s" sound (I'm 8 months into treatment). But my speech is pretty good, even to me.

I wouldn't bother with taking time off work, btw. Just get straight into it.

Hello- I am on Day 5 of my Lingual Braces experience. (only got uppers) I still can't talk right and I am very discouraged! please help!! I have a terrible lisp. I read to put some wax inbetween my brackets and tounge to make a smooth surface and it helps a little. How long will it take to sound normal!!?? My teeth are def less tender today. Im still on a soup diet. IS there anyoen out there who can give me some details on how long this will take to sound more normal?

hockeylover wrote:Hello- I am on Day 5 of my Lingual Braces experience. (only got uppers) I still can't talk right and I am very discouraged! please help!! I have a terrible lisp. I read to put some wax inbetween my brackets and tounge to make a smooth surface and it helps a little. How long will it take to sound normal!!?? My teeth are def less tender today. Im still on a soup diet. IS there anyoen out there who can give me some details on how long this will take to sound more normal?

I suggest you start eating something more substantial than soup. I know it's hurting you now, but you'll be doing yourself a favour by giving your teeth more of a workout, not to mention the benefit to your overall health.

As far as speech is concerned, keep practising talking. This is the best way to improve your speech. Read the Rainbow Passage (it's somewhere on this board) aloud. Sing in the shower. Whatever it takes.

I found wax to be my best friend during the first 2 weeks and I used it liberally to form a barrier between the braces and my tongue. By the end of a fortnight, my tongue had toughened up and - guess what? - my speech had improved significantly as well. I think our speech suffers when our tongues are sore, so take heart that your tongue won't hurt for long. Also try warm salt water rinses to give you relief (one tspn to a tall tumbler of warm water).

Good luck.

Hello everybody again!

I went yesterday to put my upper ibraces, I´m speaking with no problem, 100% perfect, and no pain as well. For those who are thinking about Lingualcare. Go ahead with them, they are PERFECT!!

Thank you everybody for answering my question!!

Sincerely, Ainhoa.

Glad to hear everything went well, AG.

You will learn to speak differently. I am getting my linguals off tomorrow and was talking to some friends about how I learnt to pronounce words differently (same sound, different position for my tongue to make to sound). It took a few weeks and I found I was always just re-fining it. So the more you practice, the better you get even if it is frustrating, it just takes a little bit of time.

It took me bout 10 days to speak without a lisp, although its still there abit, but it's not as obvious as it was at first.
cheeeerzzzzzzzzz

Hi All,

I am in the early stages of getting linguals. I have had one initial appointment and another coming up shortly. Just hearing all this talk about lisping etc but I want to know how bad is it really? I know the worst of it goes within 7-10ish days - but how severe is it?

On a scale of Jamie Oliver (kinda cute slight lisp) to Daffy Duck (spitting everywhere and sounding terrible) - where does it fit?

Am very anxious...

ACH

Hey! What a great scale - from Jamie Oliver to Daffy Duck.. Got a laugh from that, but actually quite useful. I know that for me, it is less than Jamie!

On Monday, Nov. 13 I had AOO surgery. The next day I had upper and lower lingual wires inserted. It is now one week later, and although I thought it would never happen my speech is very much improved. Nobody can tell I had the surgery or that the linguals are in. (As with many others on this site I am a professional and have a very public job). My advice for those worried about linguals and speech is to wait it out, things will definitely improve very quickly.

Ach, it's not that bad. Work on around 2 weeks to get used to it all. My OH says I have a slight lisp, but then I reckon he is partly deaf anyway! In any event, it doesn't stop me talking nineteen to the dozen.

Jake, what is AOO surgery?

Aoo is also known as "Wilkodontics" or "fastortho". Basically, a peiriodontist performs surgery on your gums to loosen your teeth and inserts bone grafts into the area where the surgery was performed to facilitate quicker movement of the teeth. The procedure shortens the time in braces to 3-8 months. In my case, my ortho is shooting for only four months in the lingual braces. The bone graft also makes it less likely that the teeth move after the braces are removed. Drawbacks: Expensive (8-10k out of pocket) and painful.

OK.

Wow - 4 months in braces. One blink and it will be over.