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Beyond the basics Common injuries include “cuts to the face, the lips, the gingiva, and fractured teeth, fractured jaws or alveolar bones,” Dr. Blair said. Of course there are occasional unexpected injuries like the 2006 game when Dr. LaVacca was called upon to help care for Blackhawks player Rene Bourque whose neck was badly cut by an opposing players skate. “The worst injuries are when a skate gets up in the air. It’s like a razor sharp knife,” Dr. LaVacca said. Of course injuries like that are the exception. Dr. LaVacca said he usually visits the locker room to catch up with players before and after the game, but if he doesn’t have specific cases to treat, he sits in the stands and takes in the action like the rest of the fans. The biggest difference is he needs to be ready to get to work on a moments notice. “The minute you see blood hit the ice, you head down to the locker room to see what’s going on. Sometimes it’s just so quiet and other times it’s really busy,” he said. While there are no specific standards for what equipment must be on hand, every NHL stadium has a small armamentarium on site, and Dr. Blair said all team dentists are equipped to provide the highest standard of care. Most of the treatment at the stadiums is aimed at patching up a player to get him back out on the ice. If further care is required it will be taken care of as soon as possible at a team dentist’s practice. Following up Away from the stadium, the team dentists fabricate the players’ mouthguards and place implants when a tooth is knocked out or damaged beyond repair. But, while the implants are usually placed quickly after an injury, they are usually loaded only with a plastic abutment until a player hangs up his skates for good because when loaded, they can actually make it more likely for a hockey player to sustain a serious jaw injury. “These fellows have a propensity for having their face in a place where it is subject to contact,” Dr. Blair said. “We tend to shy away from loading, but we do like to see the implants put in there to save the bone for future esthetics.” Talk between teams During the regular season, the home team’s dentist provides care for both sides. If a visiting player needs more care than he can receive before leaving town the treating dentist calls ahead to the dentist for the team hosting the next stop on the player’s road trip and the care will be picked up at that stop. The treating dentist also makes a call to the player’s team dentist at home to keep everyone in the loop. Dr. Blair said the Team Dentists Association is very helpful in keeping these lines of communication strong and making sure player receive the best possible care while on the road. However, the cooperation lessens during the Stanley Cup playoffs when the dentists accompany their teams for away games in order to keep every bit of medical information within the organization. “I guess we hold our cards a little closer to our vest during the playoffs,” Dr. Blair said. Rewarding work Both Dr. LaVacca and Dr. Blair enjoy their work with NHL players and find it to be highly rewarding. The job allows them to get to know the athletes and other members of the hockey organizations and presents them with a steady supply of interesting cases to treat. In the end their role is the same as any dentist’s, promoting overall oral health to their patients. The biggest difference is that their patients have a propensity for getting hit in the face with pucks, sticks and fists. With the playoffs in full swing and NHL players continuing to shun full-face masks, it is unlikely that there will be a shortage of work for them to do any time soon.
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For more information on treating implant cases similar to those faced by NHL dentists, visit... 
