Associations between articulatory disorders in speech and occlusal anomalies

Abstract

This study examined associations between articulatory speech disorders and occlusal anomalies found in a group of young Finnish-speaking adults. The present results indicate that mesial molar occlusion, mandibular overjet and to some extent lateral crossbite, seem to be associated with misarticulation of some medio-alveolar consonants. The incorrectly pronounced sounds are produced too anteriorly. Despite differences in the /s/ phoneme in different languages, an association between an anterior open bite and a laterally or too anteriorly produced unvoiced /s/ sound seems to be uniform in different languages. Factors associated with incorrect sound production appear to be occlusal anomalies which affect the position of the tongue and hyoid bone, which decrease posterior intermaxillary space, or which affect the size and shape of the resonating cavity in the most anterior part of the oral cavity.