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The Life of NHL Dentists

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Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#61

Post by triceratops »

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…

That makes absolutely no sense. Chewing with dentures, especially dentures in colonial times, is painful and awkward as heck. George Washington had trouble with his teeth for well over 20 years. You really think people willingly went in for that trouble?

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#62

Post by peteretep »

triceratops wrote: post #61
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…

That makes absolutely no sense. Chewing with dentures, especially dentures in colonial times, is painful and awkward as heck. George Washington had trouble with his teeth for well over 20 years. You really think people willingly went in for that trouble?

> You really think people willingly went in for that trouble?

I have no trouble believing anyone went to any lengths to look good

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#63

Post by pvg »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #43
alkonaut wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “fighting culture” in the NHL (perhaps more in the AhL and college leagues?) can’t die soon enough. It’s already better than it used to be in the 80s and 90s but there is some way to go. A good first step would be actual match penalties for proper fights. It has worked elsewhere.

There is a theory that fighting actually prevents serious injuries and concussions. Teams have goons and enforcers. It’s the goon’s job to hurt star players. A skilled goon can lay a clean, legal, but devastating hit on your top scorer and go unpunished. If he gets him when his head is down or not paying attention, he can take him out of the game, the series, or potentially the season. It’s those hits that cause inju…

Teams have goons and enforcers

They don't, really, and the stats show a fairly steady decrease in fighting. There might be a 'theory' but the evidence is fighting is on the way out.

You could make the argument that removing players who specialize in fighting and the ceremony and ritual surrounding it it makes fighting more dangerous - a recent case in point would be Ovechkin knocking out Svechnikov earlier this year. But that's also an even better argument for eliminating fighting altogether.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#64

Post by nestorD »

nsxwolf wrote: post #3
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…

"I picked that one up and washed it off and stuck it back in; it seems to have re-rooted." I am shuddering. This is Cronenberg levels of body horror. I suppose I must have known this was how it worked, but I figured there was more to it than that and that dentists had to do something more dentist-y to make it take.

And that's just the beginning of the story.

The same thing happened to me. 10 year down the line the inside of the tooth has been mostly absorbed by the bone leaving it fragilized (which, according to my dentist, is a common occurrence in those cases).

I just spent a year working with my dentist to replace the teeth with an artificial one.

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#65

Post by estomagordo »

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…

As a hockey fan who only kept playing until the junior years, I don't think I'll ever understand why anyone would play without the cage. Wouldn't you adjust to the vision distraction really quickly?

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#67

Post by WalterBright »

emmelaich wrote: post #66

Coincidence - I'm watching Slap Shot right now. I'm amazed that only the goalie wore head gear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slap_Shot

I suspect they didn't because the players need to be recognizable to the film goers. It's the same thing with movies about military pilots - they are filmed with the oxygen mask off.

(Top Gun helpfully had the name of the pilot stenciled on the front of the helmet! Sort of like why knights had a coat of arms so you could tell who was who and not hack off the limb of your buddy.)

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#68

Post by WalterBright »

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…

My father knew a fellow who was having trouble with his teeth. His dentist convinced him that he'd be better off with all his teeth pulled and use dentures instead.

My father said he was very sorry he'd done that - no matter how bad his teeth were, they were better than dentures.

I remembered that story when I was 21 and the dentist wanted to pull all my wisdom teeth. I asked him what was wrong with them. He said nothing, but they were in a difficult spot to clean and I'd lose them by the time I was 30 from rot.

I changed dentists.

I'm old now, and my wisdom teeth are the healthiest teeth in my mouth :-)

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#69

Post by [deleted] »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #30
rustybelt wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most people think it’s just a game, and are surprised or confused by this. This isn’t a game to them, it’s their job, and one they fought hard their entire lives for. The system selects for elite talent from all over the globe that is wired to persevere at all costs. For the extremely few who make it to the finals of the top league in their sport, especially late in their career, they know they may never get another…

[deleted]

Re: The Life of NHL Dentists

#70

Post by Doxin »

estomagordo wrote: post #65
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…

As a hockey fan who only kept playing until the junior years, I don't think I'll ever understand why anyone would play without the cage. Wouldn't you adjust to the vision distraction really quickly?

One thing I notice when googling for hockey cages is that a lot of them incorporate horizontal elements. That doesn't seem like good design to me.

Your eyes are spaced horizontally. This makes it pretty easy to ignore narrow vertical elements: if one eye gets blocked there's a good chance the other eye can still see around it. The same thing doesn't go for horizontal elements. If one eye is blocked the other is likely to be blocked too: you'd need to move your head to see in that blind spot.

It'd make for a pretty neat research project, Make various sight obstructing hats with varying amounts and sizes of horizontal/vertical elements and see what its effects are on reaction speed, tracking a moving target, See if diagonal elements are better than horizontal ones etc etc.

In any case I can imagine a cage like that being annoying, but (to me at least) that doesn't really weigh up to the risk of injury.

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