Olympic hero Jack Hughes has new chiclets as NHL dentists get a moment in the spotlight

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, just had taken a stick to the mouth from Canada’s Sam Bennett and, as he explained later, saw at least one full tooth and shards of others 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. “We did the root canals, fixed it up,” Schepis recalled. “Those were his teeth.

” Hughes, like hockey players tend to do, shook off the injury, and he went on to score in overtime for a 2-1 win and America’s first gold in men’s hockey since 1980. His gap-toothed grin became the picture-perfect encapsulation of a sport where missing teeth is a badge of honor and “spittin’ chiclets” 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. “When there is an injury to the mouth, our physicians are like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re so happy you’re here because we would not have been able to do that,’” San Jose Sharks dentist Mark Nishimura said. “Sometimes we’re really not busy, and other times, when it’s bad, it’s bad.