Veneers for Speakers: How Renewal of Smile Affects Voice & Confidence

Everything matters for a public speaker. Everything communicates a message, from the speaker’s state of being to their hand movements. However, if one were to mention one of the most important yet often unrecognized skills in a speaker’s arsenal, we would think to mention their smile. Your smile is the very first thing the audience sees; it’s your first handshake, your first nonverbal greeting, and the first aspect of the connection you forge with your audience’.

When the smile is interrupted or altered by irregularities in their smile, the speaker can travel down a dangerous path that far exceeds aesthetics. It can take away some of the impact of the speech, it can undermine the speaker’s authority as a credible expert, and it can even create uncertainty that can rear its ugly head in the mind of the speaker. That’s why more and more professionals that take to the stage, in work scenarios and as writers, are committing to a new shift: dental veneers. Dentists beware, public speaking isn’t just a cosmetic enhancement for speakers.

How Dental Flaws Affect Speech

The clarity of a speaker is worth its weight in gold. If you are unclear with your message, the message is irrelevant. What many don’t realize is that teeth play a critical role. The location of your teeth creates the spaces that the tongue and lips use to form sounds.

When teeth are misaligned, missing, or flare away from the gum line, certain sounds can distort.

Sibilants (like “s”, “z”, “sh”): These sounds are made by directing a stream of air from the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth. If you have an unaligned or missing tooth, the stream of air may escape the teeth instead of bouncing off or forming a strong edge, causing a lisp or whistling sound when talking.

Fricatives (like “f”, “v”): These sounds are made when the lower lip touches the upper teeth. If the upper teeth are uneven or not properly lined up, you will have difficulty producing those sounds every time.

Over time, the speaker may subconsciously decide to not use certain words, or contort their mouth to compensate which makes their delivery seem unnatural and hesitant. Because fixing the teeth and dental structure is not simply about.

Rebuilding Your Stage Presence

Custom thin porcelain shells, dental veneers cover the front surface of teeth and are beautifully restorative; they can address multiple cosmetic flaws at once – chips, stains, gaps, and minor misalignment, to name a few.

For veneers for public speakers, the benefits are twofold:

1. Restoring Phonetic Excellence:

When you get veneers, you end up with a well-shaped, well-aligned, new and shared upper and lower arch of teeth which is already a better, clean, consistent surface for your tongue and lips to push against and will immediately improve your speech. If you had a lisp due to teeth gaps, it becomes a thing of the past. R and L sounds can become crisp and pronounced, and you will sound more refined, more polished, and even more authoritative.

2. The Facelift Effect, Automatically:

Your teeth serve as scaffolding for the lower third of your face. A seemingly obvious observation but when teeth are missing, or worn down and/or set back in the arch, they no longer support the adjacent lips and facial muscles. The lips have a tendency to look sunken in appearance, or collapsed and make the person look older and harsher. Teeth that are restored with veneers essentially reconstruct the scaffolding for the lower face, where they provide support to the lips outward and in their natural fuller position. Therefore, the newly designed tooth form automatically raises, improves and lifts the entire lower face, smooths the appearance of fine lines around the mouth, and recreates lost contour to the face from years of wear to the teeth.

Unshakable Confidence After Veneers

Though the advances in speech and facial structure are impressive, the most significant improvement is psychological. Living with a smile you’re not proud of is no different than talking with a hand over your mouth. You become self-conscious, you hesitate to show teeth, or maybe you even shrink on stage physically so that people won’t focus on your teeth.

The enhancement in confidence that veneers provide is tangible.

Authentic Communication: You no longer need to edit your expressions. You can laugh at a joke, present a wide, welcoming smile, and engage with your audience on a more real, human level.

Engaged Presence: When you feel good about your smile, it translates to your physical state. You stand taller, you make better eye contact, and your body language becomes more open and engaging. You own the stage rather than simply occupying it. 

Focus on the Message: With dental insecurities aside, all of your mental energy can be directed toward your message and presence in front of an audience. You are no longer thinking about your physicalness or perceived

Ready to Command the Stage with Your Smile?

At Thyme Dental, we are experts in making custom porcelain veneers that look natural, improve speech, and increase your confidence. Our team of professionals recognizes that every patient has their own needs, particularly those who rely on their smiles for their profession or public speaking. Allow us the opportunity to develop a smile that enhances your connection with people, persuades them, and inspires them.

Please contact Thyme Dental today to get started on your customized smile design consultation today! Take that next step towards your new confident self!