Half of NHL players are missing teeth

[VanCitySportsGuy]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/a-sport-with-teeth/article1569872/

Edwards had saved many players’ teeth by reinserting them immediately. With Tkachuk, that wasn’t an option.

“There wasn’t any bone left to hold the teeth in,” Edwards said.

While Tkachuk’s injury was only a footnote in most game stories, Edwards spent three hours that night picking fragments of bone and teeth from his mouth. Tkachuk’s surgery this week involved a transplant of bone from his hip to restore his upper jaw. If that process is successful, false teeth will be implanted when the area is healed.

“You just don’t realize,” Tkachuk said. “It’s by far the worst injury I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.”

He sat out only three games, returning to the ice after 10 days with six front teeth missing.


I cringed when I saw Belanger play the role of dentist. It's too bad some of these guys are too macho to wear mouthguards or visors and would rather risk serious injury than to wear one.

[duckfever8]

Re: Half of NHL players are missing teeth

Imagine how bad these teeth injuries were in the Original Six era. Now that had to be crazy.

[Piderman]

Re: Half of NHL players are missing teeth

This isn't news to me.

[Money99]

Re: Half of NHL players are missing teeth

I think it was two seasons ago Chris Clark got a puck (or stick?) in the mouth and when he took out his mouthpeice 6 chicklets came with them.

He had to undergo numerous oral surgeries that off-season to repair his mouth and he said it was horrible.

I know the feeling. I've had 3 root canals with 2 of them being the most painful experience of my life.
Nothing like scraping out nerves without the help of freezing. It felt like someone had hooked up a car battery to the nerves of my tooth. I wished I was dead.

I make sure to wear a mouthpeice for even the simplest of pickup games. No way I'm going through that again if I can help it.

[Money99]

Re: Half of NHL players are missing teeth

This:

Tkachuk believes the NHL’s ramped-up speed and emphasis on putting pucks to the net have made the offensive zone a more dangerous place to play than it was 20 years ago.

“I think the old guard used to know where pucks were going,” said Tkachuk, who had never lost a tooth before this season. “With the new sticks, people shoot it harder and they shoot higher – the goalies are so tough to beat you’ve got to do everything possible to score.”

Couldn't agree with this more. It's borderline crazy with how that puck jumps and deflects in front of the goalie anymore.
And those composite sticks also provide for more lively and unpredictable deflections as well.

I imagine in 50 years all the players will be wearing full shields. I never thought I'd see the day that a majority of players would be wearing visors, but here we are.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Half of NHL players are missing teeth

This:



Couldn't agree with this more. It's borderline crazy with how that puck jumps and deflects in front of the goalie anymore.
And those composite sticks also provide for more lively and unpredictable deflections as well.

I imagine in 50 years all the players will be wearing full shields. I never thought I'd see the day that a majority of players would be wearing visors, but here we are.

Visors should be mandatory IMO. It's going to take a debilitating injury like someone losing an eye on the ice for it to happen, but the way it's going something crazy like that will eventually happen. The "tough-guy" argument went out the window when they made players wear helmets. In this day and age, if you're not protecting yourself you're not tough, you're stupid.

[SidVish]

Re: Half of NHL players are missing teeth

Add Duncan Keith to the the list. He lost a total of 7 teeth today.

http://mobile.chicagotribune.com/inf...0D38CB45CAE13E