Jason Schepis was at home with his kids in New Jersey watching the gold medal men's hockey game at the Olympics when he saw some of his handiwork get scattered all over the ice late in the third period of a thriller.
Jack Hughes, the 24-year-old forward for Team USA, had just taken a stick to the mouth from Canada's Sam Bennett and, as he explained later, laying on the ice.
Schepis knew those teeth, too. In fact, as the New Jersey Devils team dentist, he had repaired those very same chompers before after Hughes took a high stick in the playoffs a few years ago.
鈥淲e did the root canals, fixed it up,鈥 Schepis recalled. 鈥淭hose were his teeth.鈥
Hughes, like hockey players tend to do, shook off the injury, and he went on for a 2-1 win and America's His gap-toothed grin became the picture-perfect encapsulation of a sport where missing teeth is a badge of honour and "spittin' chiclets鈥 is so ingrained in the lexicon that it's the name of a popular hockey podcast, not just the candy-coated chewing gum pieces that are somewhat tooth-sized.
To say that hockey players need dentists is something of an understatement. Every team has one and these specialists join team doctors and other medical staff at every single NHL game, ready to jump into action when the need arises.
鈥淲hen there is an injury to the mouth, our physicians are like, 鈥極h yeah, we鈥檙e so happy you鈥檙e here because we would not have been able to do that,鈥欌 San Jose Sharks dentist Mark Nishimura said. 鈥淪ometimes we鈥檙e really not busy, and other times, when it鈥檚 bad, it鈥檚 bad.鈥
It was bad when Nishimura was handed Joe Pavelski's teeth following a puck to the players' jaw during in the 2019 playoffs, though . Later that year, Keith Yandle lost nine teeth, returned to the game and played 168 more in a row.
Brent Burns took a wayward stick to the face in 2013 that knocked out three pearly whites, and since returning he has . When a puck ramped off his own stick into his mouth in 2006, Chris Clark needed three hours of surgery involving braces, screws and a cadaver bone.
Clark calls hockey dentists 鈥渢riage doctors,鈥 learning about that from his own tooth-losing, palate-fracturing experience with the Washington Capitals.
Longtime Capitals dentist Tom Lenz was there that game and has seen it all, including driving players to his office at night when time is of the essence. Because a puck or a stick to the mouth almost always causes damage different than the general population, he got nervous in his early days more than two decades ago.
"You never know till you get back there, so you always have to be ready to just jump in and take care of it," Lenz said. 鈥淚t can be a simple chipped tooth. It can be teeth knocked out. It can be jaw fractures. 鈥 We try to get them stable, out of discomfort 鈥 whatever that takes."
That includes dealing with lacerations elsewhere on the faces of players, officials and even coaches. The home dentist, at least in the regular season, is responsible for the visiting team, too, and consults with the other doctors in the building, like when Schepis in early 2024 ruled out Chicago's .
The playoffs are different, so Schepis was there on the road when Hughes took a stick to the mouth from Jordan Staal in the series opener between the Devils and Carolina Hurricanes in May 2023.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e snapped in half, the nerves are hanging out, the ice is cold (and) he can鈥檛 breathe because the nerves are hanging,鈥 Schepis said. 鈥淛ust numb him right at the end of the first, did the root canals right there, pulled the nerves out. The orthopedic surgeons think it鈥檚 like miracle work.鈥
When Alex Ovechkin took a stick to the mouth in October 2007 that knocked out one of his front teeth, Lenz put in an implant that's also known as a 鈥渇lipper鈥 with the plan to make a permanent fix once his career is over.
Lenz said Ovechkin wanted it immediately, then lost the implant and his smile without the tooth became part of his look, even if his mother did not approve. and still playing at age 40.
鈥淗ad one made within a day or so because he was so adamant about, 鈥橧 can鈥檛 go around like this,'鈥 Lenz said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so him now that it鈥檚 going to be strange to see him with all his teeth up there.鈥
Not Hughes, who told that missing teeth definitely won鈥檛 become his look long term. He has already been fixed up.
Now in his 14th full season in the league, Brenden Dillon wore a mouthguard playing as a kid because he needed braces three times from hockey-related incidents. After going without one with the minors, he got popped in the mouth in his first NHL fight and has worn one since.
鈥淣ot a fun part of it,鈥 Dillon said. "I don鈥檛 think basketball, football 鈥 maybe baseball, a ball here and there maybe 鈥 but way more in hockey. Sticks, pucks, the glass, ice 鈥 the whole nine yards. It feels like once a game at least somebody鈥檚 getting dinged up with something.鈥
Schepis, Lenz and other NHL team dentists work in other sports. Lenz said many of the NBA players he works on have never had sutures before.
鈥淗ockey players sometimes will even go, 鈥楬ow many is it going to be?鈥欌 Lenz said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 like two or three or so, a lot of the guys will just go: 鈥楾hen just suture it. No anesthetic, I don鈥檛 want to take that. Just suture it, and I want to get back out there.鈥欌
Nishimura remembers being asked, 鈥淒o you want to put these back in?鈥 when Pavelski lost those teeth off a shot from Burns, his teammate at the time. The Sharks beat Vegas 5-2, and it became part of his courageous career.
鈥淧avs went back, we numbed him up, sutured him,鈥 Nishimura said. "He went back out and finished the game. It鈥檚 incredible. Hockey players, they don鈥檛 quit. They are a special breed of human being."
Dillon, now with New Jersey, has had a couple of root canals, a couple of chipped teeth and realizes he should wear his mouthguard in practices, too. Lenz has noticed a decline in facial injuries since visors were made mandatory; only four players, grandfathered in, are skating without one.
Clark wore a visor sparingly in his playing days but is glad to see the current generation widely adopt it, much like helmets became required equipment, because sticks and pucks to the mouth are such a regular occurrence.
鈥淚t's sort of part of the deal," Clark said.
So is having a hockey dentist on call. Schepis says he once did a root canal on Jaromir Jagr at 1 a.m. and put in 30-plus sutures for another player when the puck caused damage all the way through his mouth.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of little nuances to sports dentistry vs. regular dentistry because it鈥檚 just not standard,鈥 Schepis said. 鈥淵ou have to move fast and you have to always move with the player鈥檚 best intention. But we know they want to be out there. We know the team wants them out there. You always have to be available any time of night.鈥
___
AP NHL:
This report by 国产诱惑福利 was first published April 9, 2026.
