Difficulty speaking

[Ibraces2007]

I have had my upper linguals on for close to 2 months now and my speech is still bad. Just today I had an interview and was told by my recruiter the reason I did not get the job was because the interviewer said I was difficult to understand. No one had any problems understanding me before I got my linguals. Anyone got any suggestions on how to improve their speech?

[BlahBlah]

Well that is a concern that after 2 months and u r still at the point that u r difficult to understand..! I would start doing alot of talking if i were u.. Just blabb anything to urself.. the more u talk the more u get used to them!!
Have fun!!
and bad luck on the job....

[langers]

That is oo bad and a bit weird, my speech was fine after two days let alone two months. No one notices a thing....

I wonder why some cases are so different to others?

[markymark38115]

Hello All! I just got my iBraces two days ago and am totally embarrassed by my speech. I work in healthcare and have had to tell all of my patients I got braces becuase my speech is so bad. The reason I choose these appliances is because i didn't want people to know I had braces (for the second time, mind you).

I have spoken all day long today and my speech seems to improve (a little) by the end of the day but is noticable lispy. It is really embarrasing! Plus, my tongue is killing me! I am hoping and praying that my speech improves in the next week or so. It seems that air escapes from my lower appliance constantly (causing the lisping sound) and I don't know how time is going to improve this phenomena. Any other suggestions anyone? Someone mentions "Pillow Soft" silicone earlpugs for the brackets. Anyone else tried that? Thanks for any information.

[Ruby Tuesday]

Hi Mark!

I have had linguals for over a year now and I do a lot of speaking too. At first, speaking was VERY challenging. I am pleased to say that things got better fairly quickly though. After about a week or so things were a great deal better and even though I thought my speech was terrible, it seems that most people had not cottoned on to the fact that I had something in my mouth!

I found that after a full working week, I spent the weekend relaxing, resting, not talking too much and drinking lots of water. That helped a lot. I remember the first week being the worst by far, so hopefully, you're just about throught that by now.

As for air escaping, I plugged up the gaps with regular wax during the day. Worked a treat. Where I am, wax seems difficult to come by and my ortho doesn't seem to have it, the nurse said I should not need it! So, in times of shortage I have used the earplug wax at night over just about all the brackets if necessary. Just gives your tongue a good rest until things have settled down.

Please don't be disheartened, things will be better really soon and you'll start to feel some great changes!

[lionfish]

Hi Mark and welcome!

Ruby Tuesday has pretty much covered things for you. Be liberal with the wax in the first couple of weeks, it's a lifesaver. Try warm salt water rinses too (1 teaspoon salt to tall tumbler of water).

I remember my tongue starting to suffer by day 3 and it took another 10 for it to settle down. But it did come good and I've not been bothered since.

As for speech, this will also improve in time.

[markymark38115]

Thank you Ruby and Lionfish!

My tongue is so raw now that it hurts even to swallow so I'm keeping wax on the appliances 24/7. I just hope that my tongue gets toughened up enough to withstand the braces without all of this wax. It makes eating difficult because I am constantly worrying that the wax is falling off or that a bracket is loose when I fell the wax loosening.

As for work, I think all of my patients thought I was drunk this week! Ha Ha! That's why I had to tell them and all of my co-workers what was going on. I am hopeful that by next week it will be unnoticable. I definetely don't remember it being this bad the last time I had braces (I was 10 years old then). However, I had them on the front of my teeth the first go around.

OK, I'm off to practice the "Rainbow Passage." Take care.

[Ruby Tuesday]

Hi again Mark!

I found that whilst there was steady improvement in things, I woke up one day and things were magically BETTER!!! I do remember times when my tongue was so swollen that I cold not swallow at all, once I found a wire had come off and was directly poking into my tongue. It is difficult to isolate the pain's source sometimes and it feels like it is everywhere.

Try to get some rest and good sleep and best wishes for the coming week.

[Ouch]

Hi Ibracers2007,

I am in the same boat as you, 4 months in and I still speak with a lisp, and people sometimes find it difficult to understand me, especially when I speak too fast, and like you I never had this problem before. Also like you I am concerned, I am currently doing a post grad to allow me to switch careers, but am terrified that this lisping will let me down in an interview.

I've taken everyone's advice, I sing especially in the shower and car, I talk heaps, I drink plenty of water about 4ltrs a day. So why do I feel like one of the very few people who can't adjust? Why can everyone speak 100% without a lisp and I can't seem to get those ssss words right?

So I have a question. Are most people who say they can speak 100% no issues have linguals on both top and bottom or only on top or bottom? I am trying to see if this is the difference, as I can't fathom how I will be able to speak lisp free with less room for my tongue to move. Cheers.

[markymark38115]

Ruby, that's so crazy you mentioned that . That is exactly what was going on with me this weekend. I bought a small mouth mirror (highly recommended and cheap to buy in any drug store- about 5 dollars) and the wire that attaches to my back upper molar was loose. It has been stabbing me the last couple of days. That's why my tongue is so God-awfully sore! So, I put silicone covering over it and I plan to see my Orthodonist tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice!

You're the best!......Mark

[Ruby Tuesday]

Glat to help out - I have several of those trusty little mirrors. I think they are for make up. Great thing to have!

[Ibraces2007]

Hey guys, yea my speech has improved a great deal since I posted. I guess the speech improvement varies from person to person. One thing I do notice is that if my mouth is dry, I tend to talk with a very bad lisp. So I suggest anyone who is having problems with their speech, drink alot of water.

[markymark38115]

Hi Ibrace 2007. I'm glad to hear that your speech has improved. I have now had my braces for 6 days, and though my speech is better than in the beginning, I am still mortified by the lisping that occurs throughout the day. It may be a "guy thing" but lisping is not looked upon well with the other guys I interact with on a daily basis. I always start out my conversations with new people with an explanation about my new braces. Most people are fascinated that they are on the backs of my teeth and it breaks the ice a bit. I am just looking forward to the day when I don't have to explain myself.

I saw my dentist again today (he fixed the wire that was poking a hole in my tongue- OUCH!!!!!!) and he said give it a good two weeks to settle in and then my speech should be fine. I am very hopeful that that will happen . I'll keep you all posted. Thanks to everyone for your input. This blog site has really given me a great deal of "peace of mind" and I have really learned a great deal from everyone's experiences.

[ibraceface]

Hey guys-

Luckily I was my orthodontist's 10th IBrace patient- so most of the kinks were worked out before my time!

She had many of her earlier patients complain that something on the back molar was stabbing them in the tongue.. It was the wire that was turned.

She QUICKLY discovered, that if she covered the turned wire with some glue and smoothed it over- it helped A lot.

She did this the very minute my braces were put on- so luckily i have never had any pain. I have had mine on for 2 or so months and have yet to have a sore tongue, cut, etc.

Maybe I'm just lucky or my ortho is a genius- but it's worth a shot!!

As for speaking... i was very lispy for weeks- until i discovered that the more wide i opened my mouth to speak- the better it was. im usually very soft spoken and dont open my mouth hardly at all to speak--- and doing this with ibraces--- it always sounded like i was mumbling! so just try and open up and speak up! I dont lisp at all anymore...

My ortho also explained it this way: In the beginning phases of braces-- your mouth produces a lot of spit- because your body thinks the appliances are foreign objects (aka food). Your body, as a natural defense, produces extra saliva to wash the foreign object away. All this extra spit makes talking harder and lisping easier! once your body recognizes the braces aren't going anywhere- the extra production of spit should subside...

I noticed this big time!! I was having such a hard time talking at first because i had sooooo much spit in my mouth! But her advice definitely stood true and im talking normally again.

Hope all this helped Sorry if the whole spit thing was way too much informattion!!

-Kate

[ibraceface]

that was supposed to say "f-o-r-e-i-g-n" object..

f-o-r-e-i-g-n somehow is being altered to say exotic cusine on this board. weird?