The effect of early loss of anterior primary tooth on speech production in preschool children

Aim: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a progressive dental caries in children that may cause premature loss of the anterior primary teeth. In this study, the aim was to investigate the effects of primary anterior tooth loss and removable dentures on the speech of children with ECC. Materials and methods: Included in the study were 15 patients with ECC who required extraction of the primary anterior teeth and needed dentures (case group), and 15 healthy children (control group). The articulation of the control group was evaluated once and that of the case group was evaluated before and after extraction, before and after dentures, and at the follow-up exam. The errors of both groups and those among the case group for 5 periods were compared statistically. Results: It was found that tooth loss did not influence articulation. However, dentures temporarily effected articulation of the [s], [∫], and [z] speech sounds. Conclusion: It was concluded that although dentures may cause articulation disorders, children have an ability to compensate for the differences and articulate speech sounds correctly.