• 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.

Partial Dentures and speech.

M

Melissamoore

Junior member
Joined
Feb 21, 2015
Messages
2
Location
New Zealand
Hi

I am new to this form, so if this has been asked a gazzilion times feel free to post the links and Ill have a read.

I had to have a molar removed years ago and then another and another . The one molar was next to my eye tooth and when I smile it looks terrible and I know that people judge people with missing teeth . As the years have gone by I have developed a habit of clenching my teeth and sometimes get a click in my jaw. Any hoo , I went to the dentist about 4 weeks ago and had partial dentures made for my upper 3 missing teeth and one for my below 2 missing teeth . The bottom partial is a disaster and I am only wearing them a couple of hours a day and not when I eat . The tip dentures are way better and I can eat with them in but obviously very slowly . I have only had them in full time since last week Wednesday so only for 3 days and the end of today will be 4 days . My reasons for getting them were because I am vain so hated the look of the gap but also to see if it would help with my clenching and the fact that i have a bridge on my front tooth that is getting worn down due to clenching and rubbing my bottom tooth on the underside of the bridge.

My question is this , will I ever be able to speak clearly again ? The people that I work with have said they hadn't noticed a difference and one woman said she only notices a slight difference but only because I have mentioned it to her .

I feel like my confidence has taken a knock and its giving me serious anxiety . Any advise is welcome :)
 
It'll get better! Your tongue will learn to work its way around them. Just give it a bit of time. And I know it's hard to believe, but you're the only person that's going to notice any changes in your speech. They will sound much more pronounced to you than anyone else!

Practice talking when you're at home. Sing along to music, have a chat to the plants. The more you talk, the more you'll adjust. Try not to focus on it so much. We all assume that other people will pay as much attention to our teeth and speech as we do, but they don't! I know exactly how you feel, though. You think, "is it going to be like this forever?" But all you need is time.

Best wishes :hug4:
 
Hi,

I second Sevana's words and would like to add that you should not sleep with the dentures in the mouth. It us important to take these out at night and allow the tissues some rest.
 
Back
Top