When you have gone without teeth in certain areas of your mouth for a long time, it is quite an adjustment after you get dental implants. In fact, many people are surprised by what they need to do to adjust to these permanent, and fake, teeth. If you have recently had several dental implants placed in your mouth, here are some adjustments you may have to make.
Speech Therapy
This seems odd; after all, you are an adult, and you know how to talk. Yet, when you have dental implants placed for the majority of your front teeth, speech therapy gradually makes sense. Your tongue has to re-learn how to use these fake, new front teeth to produce consonant sounds like "s," "t," "f," and diphthong sounds like "th." Since you are an adult who can talk, these speech therapy sessions do not last long. Once you have mastered speaking with front teeth again, the therapy ends.
Reteaching Yourself How to Bite and Chew
A lack of teeth causes people to learn how to bite and chew with the remaining teeth they have. When you replace the missing teeth with dental implants, all of a sudden you can bite and chew normally again. The biggest shock to most dental implant patients is that they can now bite and chew crunchy foods, like apples and corn-on-the-cob.
You may find that you need to re-teach yourself how to bite and chew and that you need to feel confident in doing so. These fake teeth are not like dentures, which can come unglued and slide out when you bite. Instead, you can bite and eat virtually anything with zero consequences to your implants. That is how strong implants are.
Coping with Your Salivary Glands
Salivary glands are funny things. They go into overdrive when they sense that something is new in your mouth. This includes fake teeth, from dentures to implants. The first week or two, until your salivary glands "understand" that your implants are not food, you may have to contend with a lot of salivation. Keep a napkin close at hand, just in case. Swallow as often as you need to. Eventually, your salivary glands will give up trying to coat your fake teeth to process them for digestion!
Smile More
People missing teeth frequently hide that fact by refusing to smile and hiding behind their hands when they laugh. Now you can smile and laugh without feeling self-conscious. You may even have to break the habit of covering your mouth with your hands when you laugh!
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