Speech sounds horrible

[Dee17]

I've had my braces for about two months now. I feel like I have a mouth full of marbles when I talk. Saying an "s" or a soft "c" is the most difficult. I also have trouble with "f" but that's because of the space between my front teeth. I don't think most people ever realize what an important role their teeth play in their diction.

[JumpTheDitch]

I had a TMJ splint fitted yesterday, I cant believe how badly my speech is affected The splint covers ALL my lower teeth apart from the front four where it goes behind the teeth, & has HUGE build up to stop my upper teeth about 5mm above my lowers. It also extends about 5mm under my tongue all the way round making talking hard! Dont get me wrong, im really grateful for the relief on my TMJs & the massive headache reduction, & just to have a treatment plan to move forward, I just didnt realise it would be so intrusive I cant find a way to speak that is even moderately clear, at least with braces people have a visual cue as to why you may be speaking a little differently, people just look at me like Im pretending to have a speech impediment. 2 days down, about 90 to go. I cant wait for phase two & braces..

[Dee17]

Oh, so sorry to hear about the latest addition to your hardware. Hope that things will get easier for you soon!

[JumpTheDitch]

Thanks Dee, I hope so too! I found I couldnt really manage going out much socially with all the headaches & feeling s*** before I started splint therapy, now Im immensely grateful to lose the headaches, etc bit I find myself avoiding people so I dont have to speak! Hopefully though its all a means to an end, thanks for the words of encouragement

[Dee17]

Well, if it's helping, that's good. All forward progress is always positive. Hang in there. I'm glad your headaches have gone away. I wish mine would. I've been clenching like mad since I got my braces back at the end of October. Waking up every single morning with a crushing headache, not to mention waking in the middle of the night with pain. It's been terrible.

[Xenbuf]

When I first got the braces on, I had a lisp. My spouse told me that I no longer sounded like "me". That was tough because I am a teacher who talks all day. When I gave my 4th graders a spelling test that first week, they had no idea what I was saying. I had to get another teacher to give them the test!

I have had my braces on for a little over 2 months now and somewhere along the way, I lost the lisp. I don't know if my souse students just got used to my speech or if I really lost the lisp but it has all worked out.

[TMJJill]

I wore a lower mandibular repositioning splint for my TMJD for 26 months (an extra-ordinarily long time since I continued to wear it when I got upper braces first). It covered all of my lower teeth. My orthodontist told me to practice singing to myself and reading outloud to myself to get used to the speech. My co-workers razzed me a ton about my speech for a couple weeks. It did get better though.

I recommend getting some PT done now that you have the splint as well. They can help you loosen the muscles up and get used to the splint much quicker. If you can find a PT or massage therapist trained to do orofacial trigger point releases, that treatment goes a long way in helping you adjust. If not, some cranio-sacral chiropractic work would help as well.

[emmazzy]

I had trouble for the first few months I tried to cover my top brace with my lip, which made my lisp worse. After I got use to having my braces on and I started not caring was when I began talking normal.

[roxie2519]

Wait untill you get the elastics! that the worst part

[Tingrinteacher]

Ditto on the talking like a div front! I got my braces in he second but last week of term and incidentally the week that I have to do assessments with all her groups.

Try and get your brace face round this one:

"sit down please year 7. Today you will be doing your end of term assessment"....

Oh the shame....!

[Dee17]

Try not to feel ashamed. It's not like you can help it. I do understand what you mean, though. I feel very embarrassed by my braces and talking to people is very stressful even though I know I'm silly to feel that way.

[oldfart]

Best book of all time to practice your spech on with braces...

"Theres a Wocket in my Pocket". Dr. Seuss

Gawd I am having flashbacks now this will be occurring again.

of

[JumpTheDitch]

Thanks TMJJill, I'd noticed your history sounded a bit similar to mine. I see a cranio-facial chiro (which is where my journey started, I had no idea all my headaches/neck problems/balance issues, etc were TMJ-related. My own chiro referred my to the cranio-facial chiro, who referred me to an NM dentist to work in conjunction with). My CF chiro does trigger point release, etc, working in conjunction with the NM dentist to provide a holistic approach. I saw the CF chiro a few times before I got in to see the dentist. He felt that he wasn't achieving anything to actually help me, only to help alleviate the severity of my TMJ/neck issues but with my jaw still 'overclosing', I was relapsing every time I closed my teeth together. The difference with the splint is AMAZING, I really can't believe the headaches, balance issues, etc are gone. It's taken a long time to get used to it, I thought it was completely unwearable at first, but now I couldn't go 10 mins without it. Phase II will involve ALF expansion and braces, hopefully bringing my upper molars (and wisdoms) into the extraction spaces, rather than implants but I'm not sure how that'll go. I'm hoping to avoid implants if I can, but if I must then so be it.

I can't believe so much trouble can come from teeth that visually look great, I'm still amazed that the splint actually provides immediate relief! I'm still very self-conscious as it's much more visible than I'd like, and while braces are a pain, at least the general public can see them for what they are and understand what you're doing; people hear me speaking with the splint and look at me like I've grown an extra head! I just wish it wasn't so visible! Can't have it all though, I definitely choose the relief over the looks!

Hope your journey is going well, are you looking at implants?

[TMJJill]

Hi JumpTheDitch,

It sounds like you really are in good hands now for your treatment. I was amazed at how much the mandibular repositioning splint and wedged sleep splint really helped me during my phase I treatment. It was really difficult for me to give them up during phase II.

My Orthodontist wanted me to do the ALF treatment with the Phase I splint, but I just couldn't afford it at the time. I asked about it for Phase II, but we chose to go with the Damon system of braces instead. I've had amazing arch development since I got them. He really spoke well of the potential of the ALF so that is probably a good option for you.

Keep up with your other treatments. I know that when I had PT in conjunction with the splint, it really helped those muscles to loosen up.

After a while, you will totally forget you are wearing the lower splint, other than when it needs to be cleaned. I know that was the case for me once I got it calibrated just right. I wore my splint for 26 months before getting my lower braces.

I haven't needed any extractions and have no need for implants in my treatment. I will be needing to replace a crown and get caps on 2 of my lower molars that are more worn down than others. (Not sure how I'm paying for those yet.)

I've been through quite a journey getting to my diagnosis and treatment process. It is good to hear from others going through the same thing.

I wish you well.

[bemurray]

[quote="helricha"]thanks for all the encouragement!!
It's good to know that there are other people who have the same problem. Looks like the elastics will also cause a problem.[/quote]

damn! I'm getting my ceramics on next week, and know elastics are in my near future, but if you listen closely I already stuff my s' up! Maybe it'll cancel it out ;p at least no one can hear us lisp online!