Mark Methot (Image credit: Flickr user 5of7)
Something I never knew, or even thought about: hockey teams have their own dentists. Hockey arenas have dental chairs, ready for emergency work. And a dentist who takes the job is liable to see things he’d never see otherwise.
No other sport has a job quite like a dentist in the NHL. In some games, these dentists simply sit and watch, usually using season tickets provided by the team, waiting for a problem that never happens. In other games, they leave those seats and jump right into medical emergencies the likes of which they would never see anywhere else.
Some team dentists enjoy the game and turn back into dentists when they’re needed. Others watch with trepidation, always worrying about a pending dental disaster. One hit looks brutal and it’s nothing. Another hit looks like nothing, and it breaks a jaw. In the wild nights of NHL dentists, nobody ever knows what’s coming next.
Bleacher Report talked to several NHL dentists about their jobs and some of the emergencies they’ve seen. Some have attended injuries way beyond teeth, because they were there and ready when other medical personnel weren’t. The article is fascinating, but not for the faint of heart. (via Digg)