If you’re like me, you’re not excited one bit about the 2015 Stanley Cup Final taking place between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning right now. I consider hockey to be little more than filler for ESPN’s SportsCenter during the football offseason. On the other hand, as a dentist, the sport of hockey could not be more intriguing to me. When you think of Hockey, do you imagine a Canadian guy with a mullet, crooked nose, and toothless smile? I sure do, and as a dentist I love looking at hockey mouths and thinking about how I’d repair them. Here is a collection of pictures, videos, and other information about hockey and missing teeth. Even if you don’t enjoy watching hockey, this stuff is too good to look away.
- Most NHL teams have a team dentist. There’s no rule how a team employs a dentist, but there’s always at least one on duty for each game. The home team is generally in charge of arranging to have a dentist present and he usually provides care for both teams. These dentists are usually hockey fans who either want the job badly or get convinced to take it. Matt Crossman, a journalist, wrote an excellent article in January of this year about hockey dentists that was published in Bleacher Report:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2332368-blood-sweat-and-teeth-wild-nights-with-nhl-dentists
- Here’s a guy named Daniel Alfredsson. He’s a retired hockey player who played for the Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Redwings. Here’s Alfredsson picking up some of his lost teeth from the ice:
- 5,000,000 teeth are knocked out every year in the United States in sports related injuries. That’s more than car accidents and violence-related injuries combined.
- Check out Daniel Sedin, a Vancouver Canuck, pulling out his own damaged tooth after taking a high stick to the face:
- Ken Daneyko, a forward for 19 seasons with the New Jersey Devils, holds the unofficial record for teeth lost in NHL games. He had 12 of them knocked out in his hockey career!
- This is New York Islander John Tavares pulling his tooth out after getting hit with the puck:
- Mouthguards are mandated in youth leagues and NCAA hockey. The NHL allows each individual player to decide whether to wear mouth protection or not. According to an informal count from team dentists, only about half of NHL players wear mouthguards.
- Check out my own collection of the best hockey smiles around: https://www.pinterest.com/canyongatedenta/hockey-smiles/
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- Here’s Pascal Dupuis, a forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins pulls his teeth after getting hit with his teammate’s stick:
- Do you or your children play sports? If so, you should really consider getting a mouthguard. With help from one of our dental labs, we make some pretty nice ones at Canyon Gate Dental that are fully customizable in terms of colors and level of protection. Our mouthguards come in six different levels of protection and are perfect if you are involved in wrestling, volleyball, mountain biking, motocross, soccer, rugby, basketball, softball, rollerblading, skateboarding, baseball, football, racquetball, martial arts, boxing, ice hockey, field hockey, street hockey, and kickboxing, or any other sport where mouth contact is anticipated.
-Nicolas K. Young, DMD
