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April 27, 2009 The Puck Stops Here A look inside the world of NHL dentists.  Photo: Arthur Kwiatkowski/ They were once seen as “badges of courage” and sources of pride, but the hockey smile is changing and those gap-toothed grins that made professional hockey players easy to pick out of a crowd are more a part of the sport’s past than its future. With advances in dental implants, improved temporary restoration capabilities and many more players wearing mouthguards, National Hockey League (NHL) players are keeping more of their teeth and replacing the ones they lose to pucks, sticks and opponents’ fists. But they’re still keeping team dentists as busy as ever. “When I first started off mouthguards were not in vogue. If you had missing teeth it was a status symbol, but now our players are becoming more and more educated,” said Dr. Bill Blair, team dentist for the Calgary Flames and President of the NHL Team Dentists Association. “More teeth are being saved and we don’t see the edentulous or partially edentulous mouths that were typical of hockey players 20 years ago.” Dr. Blair would know, having started caring for hockey players in the early 1980s with the Calgary Cowboys of the World Hockey League and moving on to the Flames minor league affiliate Calgary Rangers when that league folded and finally taking over with the NHL club in 1985. Treating the players The mouthguards are among the biggest changes Dr. Blair has seen, and the players are really only starting to embrace them because of studies showing mouthguard use can help prevent concussions. The teeth they save are something of a byproduct of that. Still, when combined with developments in implants and related technology, Dr. Blair said hockey dentists can do a lot more for today’s players than they could when he first started with the Cowboys.  Dr. Anthony LaVacca Working with hockey players has been fun and rewarding for him, and while it may raise his profile somewhat, caring for the Flames remains only a small part of his practice. Dr. Anthony LaVacca, a team dentist for the Chicago Blackhawks for the last five years who recently opened his Naperville Dental Specialists practice in the Chicago suburbs, said one of the biggest challenges he faces as a team dentist is making time at his practice for players with tight schedules. “When they break a tooth or get hit in the face with a puck or a stick, you’ve got to get them in right away,” he said. Game night care Of course the team dentists usually know when they’re going to have to free up a schedule spot the next day. Most NHL clubs have a team of dentists with one of them on site at every game to help treat any facial traumas that occur. The team dentist is a part of the medical staff for the game and while they take the lead on dental issues, they’re also called upon to assist the team doctors with other medical treatments. “They’re paid to play hockey and we try to get them back on the ice as soon as possible,” Dr. Blair said. “A lot of times it is pain relief and emergent treatment, and then we would follow that up with therapy at our office afterwards.” CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
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