Does anyone know what the leading cause of tooth loss is in hockey? Is it pucks, elbows, sticks, …? Also, are those full plastic face masks effective in protecting your teeth?
I don’t think anyone has done a conclusive study into what exactly causes your teeth to get knocked out when you play hockey. I imagine that pucks and body parts are principally to blame.
I thought that the plastic face masks were to designed to protect your eyes more than your teeth. I would assume that a mouth piece is the most effective protection.
The face shield used in the NHL only covers from the eyes up. There are full face masks that can be attached to the same helmets though, but they are not allowed in the NHL (I believe). Also, a good mouthpeice is just as important.
The majority of teeth I’ve seen knocked out were from pucks. I’ve seen more occurances of elbows and sticks, but pucks tend to take out more teeth in any given shot. As for the face shield, full masks are required in most levels under peewee or squirt, can’t remember which. The full shields are allowed in the NHL, but if you’ve ever tried playing in them, they’re hot as hell. The half visor allows more breathing room and it’s easier to cool down. I play with a guy who uses a full shield and the first thing he does after a shift is take it off.
Actually, a full face shield is allowed, but there is a macho code in hockey that keeps many players from even wearing the half shield. Of course in major junior and college hockey full face protection is required.
In the NHL you may see a player wearing a full shield to protect a broken nose, or a football style face guard to protect a broken jaw.
The worst instance of tooth loss in the NHL that I saw was when a player got hit in the forehead with a slapshot and then fell face first to the ice. The player, lucky for him he was out cold, lost four teeth.
I don’t know about college hockey, but CHL rules require only a half-shield and a mouth guard. International junior hockey now only requires a half-shield and mouth guard as well.
My father used to be a team doctor for the Canadian National team. Once, he saw a player take a slapshot on the cheek/corner of the mouth. The puck hit him flat and left the paint from the monogram imprinted on his skin! Knocked out a couple of teeth, too.
…and another thing to note about hockey players…Unlike some other sports where the injury appears to be an aggravated hangnail, most hockey players get right up and leave the ice under their own power (soccer comes to mind here, and before I get flamed, I used to play the game and still have an interest in it!).
My own observation is that the prime causes of dental damage are errant high sticks striking the face either willfully or on a shot followthrough, as well as the puck, and errant elbows in close quarters. As an aside, most NHL teams have on staff their own Dentist as part of the medical/training support staff.
There are countless cases of players returning from injury that same game and continuing when most other people would be on their backs in hospital. (I will acknowledge that football players and rugby lunatics are in a similar category here.)Wimps need not apply!!!
“You screw up just this much, and you’ll find yourself flying a cargo plane full of rubber dogshit outta Hong Kong!”
I just play rec hockey so the shots aren’t nearly as lethal as in the higher ups, but every tooth that’s been lost in a game I’ve been playing in has been from a stick. I don’t think anyone has ever been wearing a mouth guard when it’s happened.
Al McInnis told an interviewer once that he had a root canal during the middle of a game and reentered it.’
So let’s all stop our whining and go to the dentist.
You first.
From http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/rulebook/rule23.html
So as long as the player is injured, it is okay.