Yes, dentures can affect the way you talk – especially in the beginning. You might notice a slight lisp, slurred words, or weird clicking sounds when you speak. That’s completely normal. Your mouth is adjusting to a new shape, and your tongue is relearning how to move around something that wasn’t there before.
The good news? Most of these changes go away with practice – and faster than you’d think.
If you’re frustrated with how you sound or afraid people will notice, keep reading. We’ll break down why this happens, how to fix it, and what to do if your speech still feels off after a few weeks.
Talking and Smiling with Dentures. Important Things to Know.
Smiling and talking with dentures seems simple enough, but it truly a skill that must be practiced until mastered.
Some of the biggest complaints and surprises amongst new denture wearers are the challenges of speaking and smiling. Most people, including you most likely, took these skills for granted when you had natural teeth. When you were younger, how many times did you spend talking for hours on end to your best friend? Did you ever think about how your words sounded while talking? Probably not. When you had natural teeth, you likely smiled thousands of times without giving it a second thought.
Once you get dentures, these things change in a hurry. You may notice a slight lisp while talking or certain words just sound weird. When smiling, you may notice that things just look different with dentures. If you have been hiding your natural teeth for many years due to not liking the way they looked, you may have forgotten how to smile altogether.
While many patients find talking and smiling difficult with new dentures, there is hope. With diligent practice, most of these changes to your speech and smile get better – and often much faster than you’d think. If you are frustrated with the way you sound while talking with dentures or don’t like your new smile, keep reading. We will break down why this happens, how to fix it, and what to do if things don’t get better.
Tips for Talking Clearly with Dentures
If you find talking with dentures a challenge, you are not alone. Published studies show that up to 75% of patients develop changes to their speech while talking with dentures…and not in a good way. Lisping, slurring, whistling, and spitting are common problems experienced by many new denture patients while talking.
Why does this happen?
Remember, dentures are large pieces of plastic that take up a lot of room in your mouth. Upper dentures cover the roof of your mouth and affect the way your tongue creates sounds such as D, L, N, R, S, T, ST, and Z. Other sounds such as “shushing” sounds in words like shoe, measure, and judge may also be affected while talking with upper dentures.
While upper dentures affect the tongue in one particular way, lower dentures affect it differently. Lower dentures have less stability than upper dentures and the tongue is used for stabilization. Because the tongue is working to keep lower dentures steady, it can sometimes create challenges when pronouncing certain sounds. Sounds affected by talking with lower dentures often include B, F, G, K, M, P and V in addition to “ing” words such as ring or sing.
What can be done if dentures affect your talking abilities?
Patients rarely, if ever, receive any instructions on how to speak with dentures. More often than not, your dentist gives your denture and simply sends you on your way. Imagine if this were the case in medical practices when receiving a knee replacement. Instead of receiving physical therapy where you learn to walk with your new knee, you were simply told to have a nice day and dismissed. People would be livid! Why are things different when receiving dentures? You are essentially getting an entire mouth replacement.
When dealing with dentures, the way to sound normal again is simple: talking more.
The more you use your voice with your new denture in, the faster your mouth adapts. Your tongue will get used to the way it interacts with your new denture and will begin to develop muscle memory. With some practice and patience, you will sound like you again in no time.
Talking With Dentures
Here are a few easy ways to adapt to talking with dentures.
Try this daily:
- Read out loud. Whenever you have some private time, read a newspaper, your favorite book, even the back of a cereal box. It all helps.
- Sing your favorite songs. Do it while driving. Do it while in the house. The more you sing, the better you will sound when talking with your denture.
- Practice tricky sounds. Focus on saying “sh,” “th,” “ing” and “juh” (as in judge or fudge) sounds – they’re usually the toughest in the beginning.
- Slow down your speech. Don’t rush. Give your tongue time to hit the right spots.
- Talk to yourself. Narrate what you’re doing while cooking or driving. No one’s judging and it is great practice.
- Record yourself talking. Listen to recordings of yourself to hear how you sound.
- Use alternative words. If certain words give you trouble when talking with dentures, search for alternative words that have similar meanings. Expanding your vocabulary may help you sound more confident and refined.
Most people notice real improvements to talking with their dentures within a few days to a couple weeks. Some studies, however, show it can take up to 6 months to adapt to talking with new dentures. The key is daily repetition and not giving up when things feel weird.
Retraining Muscle Memory for Clearer Speech
Your tongue, lips, and jaw spent decades working with your natural teeth. With dentures, your brain is trying to use the same old muscle memory with a new setup. This is why things feel off when initially talking with dentures.
Speaking with dentures is a new movement pattern. Although you are not learning to speak from scratch, you are retraining your mouth to make sounds a little differently. Your lips, cheeks, and tongue will all move in a slightly different manner when dentures are in your mouth.
The fix to talking normally with dentures? Practice. Practice. Practice.
Start with slow, exaggerated movements. Say words like “fifty-five” and “thirty-three” slowly and clearly. Tongue twisters help as well. Some tongue twisters to try include:
- “She sells seashells by the seashore.”
- “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
- “A gentle judge just eats fudge.”
- “Dashing Danny danced at dawn.”
The more you speak, the more you say, your tongue and lips learn how to interact with your denture. It’s just like learning to write with your non-dominant hand – it feels clumsy at first, then slowly becomes second nature with practice.
Other Ways to Improve Talking with Dentures
If you have practiced speaking with your dentures, but are still having issues, using adhesive may help. Movements due to unstable dentures can negatively affect speech. Published studies have shown adhesives to reduce denture movement by up to 70%. In other studies, up to two-thirds of patients noted improved talking abilities when using denture adhesive.
Click here for more information about denture adhesives.
If your tongue simply cannot adapt to your dentures and you hate the way you sound while talking, a last resort may be implant supported screw retain bridges. This type of restoration is much sleeker than conventional dentures and does not cover the roof of the mouth. Additionally, because these bridges are securely attached to dental implants with screws, they have absolutely zero movement. Unlike dentures where the muscles of the mouth help to hold them in place, implant supported screw retained bridges need no help and the muscles are free to relax. This combination of advantages helps to improve your speech.
Click here for more information about implant supported screw retained bridges.
Smiling with Dentures: Be Happy Again!
Is wearing dentures going to affect your smile? Absolutely! If you had horrible looking natural teeth, you will notice an immediate improvement to your smile after getting new dentures. If you happened to like your old smile with natural teeth, it may take a while before you get used to smiling with your new dentures.
In performing thousands of full mouth surgeries, one thing I consistently noticed is that many people forget how to smile. Perhaps they were hiding their teeth for so long that they lost all muscle memory needed for a smile. When patients got pearly whites again, whether it be with dentures or implants, they wanted to smile again but often forgot how to do it. More often than not, their first new smile looked like a kid from kindergarten with the sides of their mouth pulled dramatically sideways!
Just like talking with dentures is different at first, so is smiling with dentures. When wearing dentures, there are big hunks of plastic in your mouth and the muscles of your lips and cheeks must adapt. In doing so, your smile will be thrown off. At first, you may feel like you have to “work” to smile or laugh. That’s normal. Your facial muscles are adjusting to the new things in your mouth. With time, your smile will feel more natural, and you will feel more confident.
So, what is the best way to get your new denture smile up to speed? Practice and repetition! The more your smile, the faster your face will develop muscle memory and the more consistent your smile will be. But simply smiling is not enough…you must smile in a way that makes you happy.
Building Confidence With Your New Smile
I am going to let you in on a little secret to finding the perfect smile. Give your phone to someone and have them record a conversation with you. Try to laugh at some point while talking in the video. Now, while watching your video, tap the pause button and use the scroll bar to slowly advance frame by frame. While doing this, watch your face in the video. At some point you will find the perfect smile. When this smile appears, screenshot it. Now you have a smile goal to practice achieving.
With your ideal smile now identified, it is time to begin your “smile therapy.” These therapy sessions can be performed at home as follows:
- Stand in front of a mirror.
- Establish a “baseline” smile by smiling as big as possible.
- Now smile using 75% of your muscle strength. See what you think of this smile.
- Now smile using 50% of your muscle strength. See what you think of this smile.
- Now smile using 25% of your muscle strength. See what you think of this smile.
- Finally, smile with your lips closed together. This is known as a “closed lip smile.”
Watch yourself smile in the mirror. It may feel weird at first, but you will soon get used to it. As you adjust the strength of your muscles while smiling, you will eventually find something that your like. Don’t forget to refer to the photo of your ideal smile while performing your smile therapy. Once you have identified your perfect smile, make a conscious effort to remember how your muscles feel. Now repeat.
The key to smile therapy is to practice. Smiling with a new denture is like learning to use a new tool which will take time to master. The more you use it, the more familiar it becomes. With your pretty new denture, you don’t need to hide your smile anymore. Practice it! Use it! Own it!
Also, don’t underestimate the power of positive feedback. When people start saying things like, “Wow, you look great,” or “There’s something different about you – in a good way,” that’s your confidence booster. Let those moments fuel you!
When to See Your Dentist About Issues with Talking or Smiling with Your Dentures
Most speech changes get better with time and practice. But if it’s been a few months and talking with your denture is still a challenge, talk to your dentist. Don’t tough it out hoping it will get better. A short visit with your dentist can make a huge difference.
Here is what might be happening:
- The denture may be too thick in certain areas.
- The denture teeth may be in the wrong position.
- The denture may not fit securely and has movement issues.
- A rough spot could be irritating your tongue or cheeks.
Your dentist will work to identify the cause of your speech issues and there are often simple ways to fix the problem such as:
- Soft or hard denture reline.
- Denture rebase.
- Bite adjustment.
- Resetting the denture teeth to a new position.
- Simple adjustments to thin or smooth denture base.
- In limited cases, your dentist may elect to make a new denture.
FAQs
Will people be able to tell I’m wearing dentures while talking?
Not unless you tell them. If you practice talking with your dentures using the techniques noted on this page, most folks won’t notice a thing.
How long does it take to speak normally with dentures?
For most people, it takes a few days to a few weeks. Published studies, however, have shown that it can take up to 6 months before becoming comfortable speaking with dentures. Practice every day and don’t rush the process. Things will get better faster than you think.
Is it normal for my denture to click or move when I talk?
It can happen early on, especially with lower dentures. If it keeps happening, your dentist may need to adjust the fit or perform a reline. If you notice this happening with older dentures, it may be time to have them replaced. Dentures should be replaced after 5 years of use.
Why am I spitting while talking with my new dentures?
When you receive new dentures, you will salivate more. Studies show that saliva production doubles when a new denture is inserted into the mouth. This increased saliva production will slowly decrease over the next 3 months but will always be more than when you had natural teeth.
What can I do if I do not like my denture smile?
Some people have the idea of an impossible smile when getting dentures. They often had bad teeth for so long that they conjured an unattainable image in their mind of how things will look once they get their dentures. More often than not, these patients have a very nice denture smile.
I have found it best to consult with friends and family in these situations. When doing so, don’t tell them that you do not like your smile or criticize every small detail that is making you unhappy. Simply smile and ask them what they think. In most situations, you will find that your friends and family like your new denture smile. Use this affirmation to reassure yourself and become more confident and comfortable with your new dentures.
Give Yourself Time to Adjust and Smile Proudly
Your dentures may change how you talk and smile at first, but not forever. Every word you speak and every smile you practice helps retrain your mouth and rebuild your confidence. Millions of people have gone through this adjustment and so can you. Be patient, keep practicing, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if something feels off.
You’ve got this!