Metal Mouth Message Board

Has anyone had a lisp the WHOLE time of treatment?

I've had my aligners for a week and my lisp is a BIT better than it was, but not much.

The thing is, I had a lisp before I even got the aligners, though not a typical one. For years I have had a missing molar and a large gap on the top left side / back of my mouth which when I smile and say S at the same time, has given me a lisp.

A few months ago I had periodontal treatment and they performed minor gum surgery on the top right side of my mouth and now there are gaps there too near the gum line, so ever since that, there's been this lisp.

I actually thought wearing the aligners would fix it as no air / tongue action would get in those gaps as the aligners would "fill" them or cover them, but noooo. It's SO much worse! Anything with S in the word, particularly at the beginning, and especially with S and T together, it's ridiculous!

I also have to constantly keep sucking at the aligners on the top and swallowing due to the excess saliva, which makes the lisp even more pronounced!

Anyone else experiencing a similar thing after a while of having invisalign?

I don't know if it ever TOTALLY goes away. For the most part I don't have an issue, but if I've left my trays out for an hour or more, sometimes I'll notice a bit of a lisp when I put them back in. It's like my mouth reverts back to normal speech and has to relearn how to speak with the trays in, though it goes back to normal pretty quickly. Also, if I start speaking rapidly sometimes the lisp will sneak in. But for the most part it's very minor, if at all. Then again, on my orthodontic journey I've had to deal with some appliances that caused some major lisp-age, making the Invisalign lisp so minor it doesn't bother me at all.

Hmmm, yes. I think the invisalign lisp would definitely be more minor than some other orthodontic treatment.

I had metal braces back as a teenager (WAAAY back, heheh) but don't recall a lisp then.

My first phase of treatment I had a lower lingual arch which is like a wire that runs along the inside of the bottom teeth. I thought it was going to be designed so it was right up against my teeth. I was wrong. It was a few millimeters away so I lisped the whole time with that (got better, but...). And then after that came off they made Essix-style retainers for me to wear, but they were the kind they make up in the in-house lab so they were kind of thick. I don't think my mouth ever got used to them. When I switched those out for that first set of Invisalign trays it was like angels were singing. I never knew I could love the way plastic fit on my teeth so much. Haha!

Mine left after a few days. Since you already had one pre-Invisalign, it might take yours a little longer to go away.

Yes...I actually suspect it may never go away. I have one without the aligners in and it just gets much more pronounced when they're in.

I find I just have nowhere to put my tongue that sounds "clean" when I say S and also T.

I'm on tray 12 and I still have a lisp with the trays. Of course I don't have to speak that much during the day so I don't get a lot of practice talking with the trays in. Though I have noticed that the longer that I leave them out the worse my lisp is and that when I first change trays it gets a bit worse before reverting back to the normal lisp.

I don't think that mine will ever go away just because I've noticed that I use my teeth a lot for pronouncing some words and the plastic prevents full contact between the uppers and lowers.

I think I'm the same.

How's the lisp going now?

I had my lisp for about 3-4 weeks, but it mostly went away. I sometimes have a lisp if I haven't had enough fluids and/or I'm on the first day of a new tray.

Hey there! Just an update! I've now had my aligners for 7 months and i can report MOST of the time my lisp is not really there too much. It IS still there though, but not a bother.

I've had various appliances (a flipper for a tooth lost, a retainer, braces, and now I'm rebraced) and you do eventually learn to talk around the hardware. It may vary from person to person, but don't be discouraged.

And old broadcaster trick for fixing speech issues is to talk around a pencil grasped in your mouth (going across) -- read a few paragraphs aloud or talk a bit (to yourself!) and then remove it. Give that a try, as well as enunciating more slowly and carefully.

I'm pretty nervous about getting a lisp. Can I just pull my tongue back a bit when I talk?

The lisp does go away (at least it did for me.) How quickly really depends on if you tend to lisp before hand and how you naturally speak. (Ie do you press more against the back of your incisors or your palate.

Also, if you have virtual bite ramps they take a little more time to adjust to as there's something else in the way, besides just the back of the aligner. For me, the lisp virtually disappeared after the first set only resurface a few sets later because of the movement of virtual bite ramps and then vanish again. (Still have the bite ramps but as they move sometimes with each set of trays the first day or so in a new set can trigger a slight lisp for me.)

I actually do public speaking and I've given long speeches with my aligners in without a problem. The only issue I've found is that when talking for LONG periods of time that my mouth will dry out quicker - so keep some water on hand.