Effect of premature loss of primary maxillary incisors on speech.

The speech of 14 children who had had their maxillary primary incisors extracted as a result of nursing bottle caries, was evaluated using a standard test of articulation. The average age at which the extractions were performed was 34 months and the average age at which the articulation test was given was 109 months. The results showed that 4 of the children had some degree of speech impairment. Two of those were mild impairments (not in need of therapy) and the 2 others were rated as severe (in need of corrective therapy). Three of those children were males and 1 was female. The findings of this study suggest that some degree of speech impairment may develop and persist in later years if premature extractions of the 4 maxillary primary incisors are performed in children younger than 3 years of age. It long has been considered that speech development and the ability to articulate certain speech sounds are dependent on many related factors among which is the presence of the anterior maxillary teeth. Due to the ravages of dental caries, especially nursing bottle caries, the maxillary incisors often must be extracted in very young children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects on speech and articulation in children who have had their maxillary anterior teeth extracted at an early age.