Can Invisalign for Teens Affect Speech?

A significant advantage of Invisalign® is that it makes the treatment more discreet and less conspicuous than traditional braces. Nevertheless, you may be worried that the treatment will affect your child’s speech. While this is possible, it is usually temporary, and there are things teens with Invisalign can do to lessen the effects.

How can Invisalign® for teens affect speech?

The clear aligners used in the treatment fit snugly over the mouth. When people speak, the tongue bounces off their teeth and other structures in their mouth. Having a foreign body over the teeth, even when it fits as closely as the Invisalign trays, can change how the tongue hits the teeth and affect one’s speech, at least for a while.

Slurring

Invisalign can slightly restrict the movement of the teen’s tongue, causing them to slur words. To put it another way, the teen’s speech may become less distinct when first wearing the aligners until they can adjust. Other people may have difficulty understanding the teen during the first few days.

Lisping

Different consonant and vowel sounds have different names describing their creation. A fricative is a consonant sound produced by placing two articulators, such as the lips, tongue, or teeth, together and forcing air through the narrow channel it forms. Sibilant fricatives form when someone places the tongue toward the teeth, increasing the pitch and amplitude of the resulting sound. A lisp results from a misarticulation of sibilant fricatives. Since clear aligners get between the teeth and the tongue, it is understandable how they might affect the pronunciation of sibilant fricatives such as the s, z, sh, and th sounds.

What can help to correct the speech impediment?

Fortunately, changes to a teen’s speech due to Invisalign® should be temporary and resolved within a few days while adjusting to the aligners. However, there are things one can do to improve speech more quickly.

1. Enunciate each word

Concentrate on pronouncing each word as clearly and deliberately as possible, especially those that contain sounds that are more challenging to enunciate. This helps make words clearer so that other people can understand them.

2. Practice reading aloud

Without having to overthink what someone is going to say, it can be easier to pay attention to how the individual is saying it. It may help to resolve speech issues by reading something out loud. For example, reading homework out loud helps the teen to practice while doing the assignment they have to do anyway. The individual could also choose a novel or poem that they enjoy. If they feel comfortable reading aloud to someone else, then they can ask someone to listen, or they can read out loud.

3. Keep talking

If the teen feels self-conscious about changes to their speech, their instinct may cause them to talk less often. However, it is the practice the teen gets from a conversation that helps them get over the impediment more quickly.