We Provide Orthodontics That Can Help To Improve Your Appearance and Speech

Few people realize that getting orthodontics care can actually help to improve your speech patterns. While it is true that there are a number of causes of speech defects, or impediments, which cannot be cured by orthodontics.  It is also true that anything that has to do with teeth, jaw, and alignment of these critical elements falls squarely into the realm of an orthodontist’s scope of practice. For decades, we have given people the ability to speak better by properly aligning their teeth using braces, and sometimes even surgery. You would be amazed at how fast the mouth adapts to being properly aligned and speech patterns improve as a result.
Several orthodontic conditions exist that can cause a person to have a blockage in their speech, also known as a speech impediment.  These can range from the very severe to the simple and can be corrected by a variety of means. In order to get a better understanding of the kinds of corrections necessary, it is important to understand why a dental malocclusion can interfere with speech in the first place. A dental malocclusion, is a condition that has to do with the misalignment of the teeth.
When a person has a dental malocclusion, the top and bottom teeth do not align correctly. There are several ways this can manifest and be diagnosed during an orthodontic examination.

• Overbite: Where the top teeth overlap the bottom teeth excessively. Under normal circumstances, the top teeth overlap the bottom teeth slightly, but when it becomes excessive, this creates challenges for the patient.
• Underbite: As the term suggests, this is the polar opposite of the overbite. In an overbite, the top teeth overlap the bottom teeth, an underbite it is the bottom teeth that protrude creating issues with chewing and enunciation.
• Openbite: Regardless of an overbite or an underbite, sometimes the top and bottom teeth simply do not connect. This leaves an unsightly and an inconvenient gap between the two sets of teeth, making it difficult to say certain kinds of words.
• Gapped teeth: This condition is the most likely to cause speech impediments. Caused by an irregular growth of the jaw, gapped teeth leave spaces between the teeth themselves. When the mouth tries to overcompensate on the areas used more extensively, larger holes are left behind as teeth move causing lisps and other speech challenges.
• Overcrowding: Too much of a good thing, is a bad thing. In orthodontics, having just the right amount of teeth has been perfect since having too many results in overcrowding of the mouth. This leads to trouble chewing and speaking clearly and is a challenge for the patient to deal with a mouthful of teeth.

Each and every one of these conditions falls squarely into an area that we, as orthodontic professionals, can help you correct. Fixes are far cheaper than years of speech therapy or visiting a neurosurgeon, and most of the time involves noninvasive braces to correct. So if you have dental malocclusion, you should schedule an appointment and see how we can help you speak better.

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