• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Immediate dentures and learning to talk

N

nosmokin2

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
129
Location
Washington
Hi! I had oral surgery done and immediate dentures placed just 9 days ago. It wasn't easy but I was talking ok until I had a 'soft liner' put on both plates yesterday. Now I'm back to square one as far as learning how to speak. Any suggestions?? I go back in six weeks for more of the soft liner and will probably go thru this all over again. Any advice appreciated...thanks!
 
I have had soft liners added to my immediate denture and it took a day or so to get back in the swing of things. Practice reading outloud or talking to your pets if you have any. It took me a few days to say my name over the phone at work when I answered the phones. I felt like an idiot but it does get better. The more you talk the faster it clears up. Now when I have my soft reliners its a piece of cake and with no speech problems. I believe you may have issues right now because your extractions were just so recently done.

It will get better...I promise!
 
I'll be watching this, too, Nosmokin. :)

Olivacs, thank you for chipping in with words of hope!

I'm a week out from getting mine (with liner) and I STILL can't talk right! I practice counting outloud from 60 - 70 (and lots of other numers) and talk my family's ears off. My tongue just refuses to cooperate. I'll get better toward evening, but the next morning I'm starting over. :rolleyes:
 
It really does get better. I felt like people must have thought I had a lisp or something but noone ever said anything. To make you laugh...my name is Shelley and when I would answer the phones at work it would come out as Sally. I cannot tell you how many times customers asked me my name again or if I was new there because they never heard of me before. The thing is I have been working there for 13 years. LOL
I can laugh now but at the time I felt so weird. Now I have no problems. Give it another week or so and you will be back to your old talking self :)
 
Thanks for your replies, Olivacs and Cielo! Olivacs, when did you have your extractions done? Just curious how far along you've come and haven't had a chance to see if you've journaled your progress.

It does seem to get easier every day. My name IS Sally and they misanderstand me and call me Shelly....go figure! I'm not having too much trouble with the 's' or 'sh' sound but 'K' or 'C' and 'G' are pretty garbled right now. I have two indoor cats and calling 'kitty kitty kitty' is comical.

Sally
 
My mom got dentures all at once. And I noticed after she had healed a bit and was more talkative that she would mispronounce words. Not often but I would hear it. And she still does it sometimes.

I never even realized it was the dentures until one day she said something and it was all wrong and I giggled and picked on her for it.

(just a normal day between us. I wasn't being mean or anything)

So then she made the gesture of grabbing her teeth and handing them to me and said, "Do you want to try and talk with these damn things?"

We both cracked up laughing.

So even though I knew she had that done I never realized they were causing her simple mess ups.


So if I didn't catch on to it I'm sure others don't either.
Anyway it does get better the more you talk / practice.

:)
 
I had my extractions in March so its been a few months. I am talking fine now but like I said in the beginning was a bit rough. I have journaled my progress so check it out.

You will get better...trust me
 
I had my extractions 3 weeks ago and a partial denture on top, which has the whole lump of plastic in the roof of the mouth thing going on :( Speech can be quite tricky but is has improved vastly over this past week. I have more problems with the 'sh' sound and also notice sometimes a slight whistle when I say the letter 's'. It's usually worse when I'm tired. It's much better though when I stick the denture in with fixodent (there is a new one I'm trying called fixodent foodseal which is excellent and really does keep it in place and keep food out). My youngest is called Ash...that wasn't easy to say...was going to resort to calling him 'boy' but it has improved :)
 
Are the soft liners not put in under the dentures when they are first put in or is it just plastic against poor gums?
Marcelle
 
Celle54....I went for a week before I had the soft liner added. It varies dentist to dentist I think. I've only had the liner on for 6 days and already have to go back because lowers have become very loose.

nosmokin2
 
My first liner was not put in until about 6-8 weeks after I got my immediate. I had a bone graft though so i think that had to do with why I had to wait. I wonder what kind of liners you are getting. I know they have different kinds and the one my dentist uses is a soft temporary liner which she describres as a cushion to the gums. It is made to last 30-90 days until it kind of just fades away.
 
I've not had a soft liner and one was not mentioned or offered...I don't have another appointment to go back unless I make one. Having said that the denture is not uncomfortable at all :)
 
Well that's good to hear Poppy36..Sure hope you have continued comfort with yours.
 
NoSmokin2...got my call from the oral surgeon..my date is Sept 18 at 9am.
I think before I am put to sleep I'm gonna ask about that LOL...seems having the liner with dentures would be better..ease the pain??
Marcelle
 
Celle54....my immediates were placed without the liner but Cielo says hers were placed WITH the liner. I think either way there is going to be some discomfort from the extractions themselves. Cielo has written a journal here so hopefully you'll have time to read about her own experience. Good for you on setting that appt. Please let us know how it goes!

Sally
 
Like Nosmokin said, I had a soft liner placed when they first gave me my dentures. But I don't know how often they do that. Mine was done because my dentist was closed for vacation for 12 days starting the day after my extractions, and I'd be on my own until they got back.

There isn't a tremendous amount of pain, honestly. I would describe it more as a soreness. At first the LA injection sites were more tender than the actual extraction sites, but not unmanageable in any way.

You're going to do just fine, Celle. :grouphug:
 
NOSMOKIN, CIELO..........I know my dentist said after I was done with the oral surgeon I'd come back to him. I will see the oral surgeon sometime after his handy work has been done. I somewhat dread the idea of taking the dentures out..but if he does then he has to be the one to get'em back into my mouth LOL. Don't know if I can remove until I am totally healed..not squimish but scared of not snapping them in or just getting them in.
I want someone to watch me remove the first time :) cause if I can't they sure as heck can.
Well come the 18th I'll ask about the soft liner..but i bet I already know the answer huh :)
Ohhh trust me Sally, I'll be a posting away LOL and I really hope its just tenderness..I can handle that.
Well I am off..see if i can get hubby to get us some burgers..gotta eat while I can..
Marcelle
 
Marcelle, my dentist had me come back in for a follow-up visit the day after oral surgery. He was the one to take the dentures out for the first time. It didn't hurt at all....he was very gentle with me. After that, I was on my own. I took them out myself every time I ate and every morning/evening since then with no problem at all. (I take care of the elderly and have had a lot of practice with other peoples' dentures... :))

I read in another one of your posts that your lowers will be anchored by posts??? GREAT idea....I tell ya my lowers are a real pain. Hopefully the next soft liner will improve things for me but that's over 4 weeks away yet. Until then, I make the best of it....maybe even with the help of denture adhesive. One more thing....I never did start a journal here mainly because I work 60+ hours a week. I think it's a wonderful idea though. Cielo's is fun to read and very informative...as well as Spektyr's.

nosmokin2
 
Hello Nosmokin2
Yep my bottoms will be held in by titanium rods..3
I would have liked four but the cost is $1700.00 each. :(
I think we're all in the wrong business.
I was going to go look to see if you had a journal but guess I'll look for Spektyr's and read.
I have gotten to where I am feeling better about the process but I am still scared. I am counting down the days LOL
I hope the uppers will be work great...I dont want to worry about having to get implants for them or an adhesive.
Big hugs
Marcelle
 
Marcelle, you'll be so relieved and happy once you're over with the whole thing. I know I was very scared right up until the appointment but I knew I had to go thru with it to end the constant pain I was in. There really is nothing to be afraid of but I know that's easy to say now that I'm done with it! Just focus on the end result....a smile you'll be proud of.... :)

As for the uppers....I've had NO problems with them since the day of surgery. There is some slight shifting now that my gums are healing but not a whole lot of movement. They stay pretty snug without any adhesive.... lucky me!

Sally
 
Back
Top