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The Life of NHL Dentists

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Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#11

Post by bsznjyewgd »

psychometry wrote: post #5

Last I checked, college and professional women's leagues mandated face protection. Why don't men's?

Not only that, but the NHL BANS full face protection unless you're recovering from an injury. (Ex-all star Dany Heatley spent most of his career wearing a comically big half-visor after suffering a serious eye injury, I wonder if he would've opted for a full visor if given the choice.)

Some players already dislike the currently mandated half-visors (visors can distort vision, or fog up, etc.) and do weird shenanigans like having small or tipped-up visors.

There's also a fighting culture in North American professional hockey which would be destroyed by mandatory full face protection.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#12

Post by jdpedrie »

psychometry wrote: post #5

Last I checked, college and professional women's leagues mandated face protection. Why don't men's?

The cage makes it harder to see the game at your feet. There's also just the culture of hockey. The last un-helmeted NHL player didn't retire until 1997. Referees often didn't wear them for some time thereafter. I remember one ref, Kerry Fraser, who retired in 2010, who refused to wear a helmet so as to not mess up his famously coiffed hair.

The NHL did recently mandate visors for all new players entering the league; it seems quite possible cages will come before too long.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#13

Post by smacktoward »

Back in colonial times, a common part of two people getting married was the bride's father paying to have all her teeth pulled and replaced with a set of false teeth -- because the state of dental hygiene was so bad then that it was just assumed that she would lose all her teeth eventually, and that way the husband wouldn't have to bear the expense of dealing with it. It was a kind of dowry.

I look at those photos and wonder if something similar wouldn't be a nice benefit for newly minted pro hockey players.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#14

Post by ben7799 »

psychometry wrote: post #5

Last I checked, college and professional women's leagues mandated face protection. Why don't men's?

There's a flipside in another sport.

In Men's Lacrosse at the college level they wear helmets... in Women's Lacrosse helmets are not allowed, they wear ridiculous eye-cages instead.

Their argument is that they have less contact allowed and don't need them. I think the real thing is trying to look better and/or culture like hockey.

Women's college Lacrosse apparently is #2 for concussions after Men's Football.

Men's Lacrosse apparently has far fewer concussions even though it allows contact.

My wife had 3-4 concussions playing Lacrosse in College.. I definitely worry about some effect of it coming back as we age. Her concussions were apparently bad enough the effects lasted and messed up her schoolwork for quite some time.

I played a lot of pond hockey as a kid.. we somehow managed to not knock each other's teeth out or get head injuries without helmets but there was no contact and the level of play was very low.

First time I suited up in a rink with a helmet I got hit in the head by the puck coming around the boards. I was totally fine cause of the helmet but it scared the crap out of me, I don't think I ever really played pond hockey again.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#15

Post by mattigames »

evo_9 wrote: post #2

About 6 months ago I caught a full-swing of a stick to the right side of my mouth/jaw. Cracked my front right tooth in half and broke the next two right-most teeth at the gum-line, and cracked one of my lower teeth off at the top 1/4. Neither top teeth broken at the gum could be saved/or built up so they pulled them. I also had one of my lower teeth, left of center knocked out (yes left of center, I think the top por…

90%... so the total cost was around 100K? Global capitalism is a funny thing, here in my country with that money you could buy an apartment and have enough money left to get the exact same treatment you got there.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#16

Post by dmurray »

ben7799 wrote: post #14
psychometry wrote: post #5

Last I checked, college and professional women's leagues mandated face protection. Why don't men's?

There's a flipside in another sport. In Men's Lacrosse at the college level they wear helmets... in Women's Lacrosse helmets are not allowed, they wear ridiculous eye-cages instead. Their argument is that they have less contact allowed and don't need them. I think the real thing is trying to look better and/or culture like hockey. Women's college Lacrosse apparently is #2 for concussions after Men's Football. Men's L…

Women's college lacrosse is effectively a different game, as different as baseball is from softball.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#18

Post by krisgee »

bsznjyewgd wrote: post #11
psychometry wrote: post #5

Last I checked, college and professional women's leagues mandated face protection. Why don't men's?

Not only that, but the NHL BANS full face protection unless you're recovering from an injury. (Ex-all star Dany Heatley spent most of his career wearing a comically big half-visor after suffering a serious eye injury, I wonder if he would've opted for a full visor if given the choice.) Some players already dislike the currently mandated half-visors (visors can distort vision, or fog up, etc.) and do weird shenanigans…

>There's also a fighting culture in North American professional hockey which would be destroyed by mandatory full face protection.

Having grown up playing hockey in a pretty rough league that's not true. You just hook your hand under the back of the helmet and pull, it'll pop right off.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#19

Post by koboll »

smacktoward wrote: post #13

Back in colonial times, a common part of two people getting married was the bride's father paying to have all her teeth pulled and replaced with a set of false teeth -- because the state of dental hygiene was so bad then that it was just assumed that she would lose all her teeth eventually, and that way the husband wouldn't have to bear the expense of dealing with it. It was a kind of dowry. I look at those photos an…

Source? That's an amazing fact

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#20

Post by rustybelt »

evo_9 wrote: post #2

About 6 months ago I caught a full-swing of a stick to the right side of my mouth/jaw. Cracked my front right tooth in half and broke the next two right-most teeth at the gum-line, and cracked one of my lower teeth off at the top 1/4. Neither top teeth broken at the gum could be saved/or built up so they pulled them. I also had one of my lower teeth, left of center knocked out (yes left of center, I think the top por…

Hearing this, all I can think of is how Zdeno Charing broke his jaw in multiple places in this year's Stanley Cup Final and was back the next game. Hockey players are insane.
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