Teeth started whistling at 29 years old?

Question

In the last few weeks I've noticed an occasional whistling from my teeth when I talk. This is completely new. I haven't had any blows to the face or anything like that. What could have caused this, and what can I do about it?

Answer 1

You have basically developed a small lisp.  We usually think of a lisp as distorting an "s" or "z" into a "th" sound, but distorting it into a whistle is still a form of lisp.

A couple of possible options: a trip to the doctor may rule out any physical changes in your mouth and throat which could cause it (swollen adenoids, which are lymph nodes related to your tonsils, are known to cause a lisp occasionally).

If it's not physical, then it becomes a matter for treatment by a speech therapist, who can instruct you on how to position your tongue when pronouncing words to try and avoid it happening. BTW, lisp development can also have psychological causes such as stress.