Braces do more than just straighten your teeth

Speech is one of the most important communication tools we have and is often the first thing someone notices about you. Most people don’t know, but misaligned teeth can actually affect your speech and create pronunciation problems. Fortunately, with proper diagnosis, a couple of common speech problems can be helped by Spannhake Orthodontics.

Lisps

A lisp is a speech disorder in which a person is unable to make specific sounds. As it is usually a normal occurrence to children under the age of 5, it is not considered normal if the child does not grow out of it by the elementary school age. After seeking diagnosis from a speech pathologist, some individuals find that their lisp is a development from an open bite.

Word Slurring
Word slurring can be cause if the structure of the jaw or placement of teeth restricts movement. In most cases, braces can align teeth and open room for the tongue.

Mispronunciation
When we speak, we move our mouths and tongues in order to form words and sentences for communication. If teeth are misaligned, often patients will experience difficulty pronouncing certain words or sounds, leading them to the common problem of mispronunciation. This is normally overlooked as no big deal by some, but for those suffering with this speech problem, it is actually a bigger deal than recognized and unfortunately can lead to other self-confidence issues later down the line.

Don’t let orthodontic related speech problems kill your confidence, let Spannhake Orthodontics help you get this corrected. If you know someone suffering from this problem, please share this blog with them.