Changing speech and laughing habits?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:44 am
Hi! ![Image](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a186/butterfly2000/smilies/hi.gif)
I was wondering about this a lot. Probably like many of you I lived decades with ugly teeth and developed strong habits of not showing them at all. For example when I laugh I tend to pull the lower lips over the lower teeth and hence moving my lower jaw backwards. It is a very strong habit! Now my lowers look normal and I don't have a problem showing them (even with the brace) but I simply cannot manage to change this habit. Soon (hopefully in 1-2 months) my uppers will look normal as well which means another habit will stick: I always laugh with my hand in front of my mouth!
Do have these habits as well? Did you change them? When, how?
Another "thing" is the speech. For all my adult life I had an upper incisor something like in the middle of my palate (double parked) which made me lisp. This lisp is my "speech by default", this is how I sound. I am used to pronunce "S" somehow with the middle part of my tongue instead of its tip (does this make any sense?). Now the incisor is basically gone (click www for a pic) and technically I am able now to pronunce a much more clear and stable "S" (despite the gap which I still have) but I just cannot do it! I still speak as if the incisor is still blocking my tongue. It drives me nuts. I recorded my voice and heard the difference but when I speak without thinking about it I relapse to my habit.
Any ideas?? I thought my speech would improve gradually as all the obstacles are removed slowly from the movement path of my tongue but nothing happens. I don't seem to speak differently. On the opposite it sounds worse because I try to counteract the brace as well ("F"s sound pretty bad, I think I can drive a dog crazy with this high pitched whistle noise lol).
How are your speech and smile habits changing? When did it start? Did it EVER happen?
![Image](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a186/butterfly2000/smilies/hi.gif)
I was wondering about this a lot. Probably like many of you I lived decades with ugly teeth and developed strong habits of not showing them at all. For example when I laugh I tend to pull the lower lips over the lower teeth and hence moving my lower jaw backwards. It is a very strong habit! Now my lowers look normal and I don't have a problem showing them (even with the brace) but I simply cannot manage to change this habit. Soon (hopefully in 1-2 months) my uppers will look normal as well which means another habit will stick: I always laugh with my hand in front of my mouth!
Do have these habits as well? Did you change them? When, how?
Another "thing" is the speech. For all my adult life I had an upper incisor something like in the middle of my palate (double parked) which made me lisp. This lisp is my "speech by default", this is how I sound. I am used to pronunce "S" somehow with the middle part of my tongue instead of its tip (does this make any sense?). Now the incisor is basically gone (click www for a pic) and technically I am able now to pronunce a much more clear and stable "S" (despite the gap which I still have) but I just cannot do it! I still speak as if the incisor is still blocking my tongue. It drives me nuts. I recorded my voice and heard the difference but when I speak without thinking about it I relapse to my habit.
Any ideas?? I thought my speech would improve gradually as all the obstacles are removed slowly from the movement path of my tongue but nothing happens. I don't seem to speak differently. On the opposite it sounds worse because I try to counteract the brace as well ("F"s sound pretty bad, I think I can drive a dog crazy with this high pitched whistle noise lol).
How are your speech and smile habits changing? When did it start? Did it EVER happen?