How You Sound With Dentures
When you speak, the vibrations of the sounds you generate travel through your gum tissue, jaw bones and into your inner ears. With dentures, those vibrations will sound different to you . It is important to know that other people will not hear this difference. You might think you sound louder, softer or lower, but your voice itself has not changed.
Practice Speaking at Home
One way to learn how to speak with new dentures is to practice speaking at home. Do not be afraid to talk aloud as you go about your routine tasks. Narrate what you are doing, describing each of the actions that you take. Here are some examples of speaking practice that you can do after getting new dentures.
- Speak out loud as you prepare a meal, stating out loud what you are doing for each step.
- Talk to your pet. Tell your pet what you are doing, what it is doing, what the weather is like or what your plans are for the day.
- Describe your actions as you do basic household tasks, such as washing and folding laundry. Speak as if you were teaching a person how to do the task.
All of this talking will help your cheeks and tongue to get used to the presence of the dentures. The muscles that allow your jaws to move left, right, up and down will learn how they need to move in order to accommodate the new dentures.
Do Some Out-loud Reading
While it may have been some time since you read a book aloud, this is a good way to practice speaking in a natural way. Read an article from the newspaper, a paragraph from your favorite book or a children’s rhyming book. Some fun options that will give you good practice for making different sounds include:
- Rhyming stories by children’s authors such as Dr. Seuss
- Fairy tale stories
- Read instructions or recipes out loud
Try Some Tongue Twisters
One of the trickiest parts of how to speak clearly with dentures is pronouncing “f” and “s” sounds clearly. Those sounds involve a lot of movement between your tongue, teeth and lips. Saying some tongue twisters with “f” and “s” sounds is a good way for you to practice speaking after getting new dentures. Try these tongue twisters:
- Sister Susie sews skirts, slips and shoulder straps for shirts.
- Tiny teeter-totters trap tricky trolls.
- Sally sells slippery seashells by the seashore.
At Hagerstown Dentist we consider our patients’ success to be our success too! Our team will follow up with you to coach you through these little challenges in getting used to your dentures. Once you have overcome these small obstacles you will begin to really enjoy having firmer teeth with a nice smile you don’t need to hide! Start the process today!
