Can a person still communicate clearly with no teeth?

[georgeuser077]

My mom has really bad teeth and will most likely eventually lose them all. One of her main fears is that when that happens, she won't be able to speak in a coherent way, as she had read about old ladies with no teeth not being able to talk properly. Can anyone confirm whether people with no teeth will for sure have difficulty communicating in a coherent manner, or does it really depend on the individual?

Thanks!

 

[Camisa]

My mom has no teeth but she has dentures. Can your mom get dentures? Or even partials?

When my mom has dentures she speaks clearly.

When her dentures are out she has a slight lisp but is still 100% coherent.

 

[SandySea]

georgeuser, your mum really will need to get dentures. You CAN make yourself understood without teeth, but the old mouth flaps around a bit. The worst thing is that the mouth soon starts to cave in because there are no teeth to hold it firm, and your Mum WILL start to look like an old lady.

Encourage her to get her teeth out georgeuser, because bad teeth play havoc with a person's health, and she will feel so much healthier AND more confident with sparkling new teeth.

 

[georgeuser077]

Hi:
Thanks for the responses guys! My mom has very high blood pressure (on medication) and is really afraid of any major dental surgery due to the anesthetics used and how it could be dangerous for her blood pressure. Putting aside the health risks related to having no teeth, is it your experience that people with no teeth nor dentures basically can still communicate clearly with little difficulty? She's used to chewing now basically with few usable teeth, but not being able to talk is her main fear...

 

[SandySea]

georgeuser, if your mother is afraid of having anaesthetic then she is always going to have teeth, even if they're bad. She doesn't need anaesthetic to get dentures, only to get her own teeth out!

Anaesthetic today is much much safer than it used to be, and a trained anaesthesist will take into account your mother's blood pressure and she will be monitored very closely throughout the entire procedure. That's if she chooses to have them out under general anaesthetic. She can choose to just have just a local anaesthetic to numb her gums while the teeth are removed, which means she remains conscious but feels little or no pain.

There are no health risks to having no teeth - other than the fact that you can't chew your food properly so either have to live on soft foods or swallow food whole and developing permanent indegestion - the health risks are having rotten teeth, the poisons from which will leach into your bloodstream, give you bad breath, get impacted, develop abscesses, cause neuralgia and create infection!

But "putting aside all that" as you say, will she be able to communicate? Well, she will either have .....
(a) rotten teeth and bad health and will be able to communicate as she does now,
(b) no teeth, will have to live on soft foods for the rest of her life, look much older, but will still be able to communicate, or
(c) no teeth but have dentures and will be able to communicate very well, be healthier than she is now, and look better.

Which one would YOU choose?

 

[georgeuser077]

Thanks for putting things into perspective SandySea! I wholeheartedly agree with you that the benefits of having her teeth fixed far out weigh any risks. My mom can be a stubborn woman though, and her main concern at the moment just seems to be with regards to being able to communicate properly in the worst case scenario. Other than that, she's either gotten used to or is OK with having bad teeth for the rest of her life. I will tell her you guys' arguments next time I talk to her.