I have had some swallowing problems in the past myself. It happened after I had some of my front upper teeth extracted. Then when I had the others in the front extracted. It has to do with the position of the tongue when you try to swallow. Usually with front upper teeth you press your tongue tip up against them to give the food a sort of push backwards. Without this push the food sort of gets to a place it didn't before, not far enough back in your throat. I had to relearn how to swallow. This also happened to my Dad after he lost his front upper teeth. It's a mechanical problem and doesn't have anything to do with your esophagus. You have to be concious of where your tongue is when you are trying to swallow.

I have also heard this from other people who JUST lost their front uppers. Wearing your flipper or upper partial or full plate helps. I also had a friend when I was a teen who lost her front teeth in an skateboarding accident. She told me this way back then, that she was having trouble swallowing. All our physical structures work together in our bodies and if we lose one or part of one we have to learn how to do things we used to do before without thinking. Tilting your head slightly back while trying to swallow also helps.