Your teeth play an important role in chewing, smiling, and your oral health, but they are also crucial to speaking. For many syllables, for example, the tongue pushes against the back of the teeth to form the sounds. The flow of air is controlled by these same movements and can make the difference between making a “th” or a “t” sound, for example.
If you need a “t” sound, the tongue halts the air flow by touching the back of your teeth. If there are any missing teeth, air can escape through the gap and sounds more like a “th” sound. This presents a problem when you ask your friend, “What’s your favorite sports team?” He may answer with his favorite sports theme. Trying to restate your question will only cause more frustration when you discover how impossible it is to stop the air flow without your teeth. If your tongue tries to correct the pronunciation by taking a detour to the roof of your mouth, the resulting noise sounds more like a “d.”
Unfortunately, over time your speech will only get worse because another effect of missing teeth is that the teeth you still have will begin to tilt or shift from the gap. Those teeth need side support, so holes in your smile will allow for movement of the existing teeth trying to compensate. Dr. Villani and Dr. Kondrat can construct a dental bridge to support your speech syllables and, most importantly, your natural teeth.
Dental bridges are non-removable tooth replacements fabricated from high-quality porcelain. To replace one or more missing teeth in a row, Dr. Villani and Dr. Kondrat set this fixed prosthetic between two dental crowns. The crowns are attached to healthy teeth and hold the bridge securely in place.
To find out if dental bridges will work for you, call Brighton Family Dental Group at (617) 562-5210. We provide cosmetic dentistry to residents of Watertown, Cambridge, Brookline, and Newton.
