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Key Takeaways
The Moment the World Saw
Viewers watched as New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes scored the heroic winning goal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday — and perhaps in even greater awe as he did so with a mouthful of bloodied, broken teeth after taking a high stick to the mouth in the third period.
Shortly after the incident, Hughes looked down at the ice and saw his teeth. “I was like, ‘Here we go again,'” he told reporters. “The last time that happened, it wasn’t very fun.” He returned to the ice, played through the injury, and scored the overtime winner that gave the United States its first men’s hockey gold medal since the Miracle on Ice in 1980.
For dental professionals, the image of Hughes grinning through a broken, bloodied smile while clutching a gold medal was equal parts grimace-inducing and clinically fascinating. What exactly happened to his teeth, what treatment will he need, and what does this high-profile case illustrate about dental trauma management and the role of implants?
What Actually Happened: A Clinical Assessment
While no dentist has formally examined Hughes publicly at time of writing, Dr Jason M. Auerbach, founder and co-CEO of Riverside Oral Surgery and official oral surgeon for the New Jersey Devils, assessed the injury from broadcast footage and concluded that none of Hughes’ teeth were actually fully knocked out. Rather, it appeared that Hughes fractured his left front tooth, fractured the edge of his right front tooth, had a tooth or two pushed out of position, and sustained damage to his lower teeth. “It looked like the stick must have caught him at an angle,” Auerbach said. “What’s specific about hockey injuries in general is that they are high-velocity injuries: stick, skate, puck. There’s energy associated with those injuries, and they tend to be significant in terms of fractures.”
This distinction matters clinically. A fully avulsed tooth — one completely displaced from its socket — requires immediate management and carries a different prognosis to a fractured or subluxated tooth. The spectrum of injuries Hughes appears to have sustained spans multiple trauma categories and will each demand individual assessment and a staged treatment plan.
Dr David Moisa, a New Jersey-based dentist, outlined the decision tree: “If the nerve is exposed, that’s when a root canal or an extraction is needed. If the tooth is subluxated — just moved in the jaw out of position — you can sometimes reposition it. If the tooth is avulsed, then you can put it right back in and stabilise it, and it will reattach. Sometimes a tooth is totally broken and not restorable, and that’s when you need the implant.”
Why Implants Are the Recommended Long-Term Solution
For any tooth that cannot be saved, most dentists agree that implants are far superior to alternatives such as dental bridges or partial dentures. Titanium posts are inserted into the jawbone, serving as artificial roots. Once the posts are secure and the mouth has healed, custom crowns matched to the patient’s natural teeth in shape, colour, and size are placed on top of each post.
The advantages over a bridge are well established: implants preserve the alveolar bone that would otherwise resorb following tooth loss, they do not require adjacent teeth to be prepared or compromised, and they offer a durability that, with appropriate maintenance, can last a lifetime. For a 24-year-old professional athlete at the peak of his career, the long-term functional and aesthetic outcome of an implant far outweighs the convenience of a quicker bridge solution.
That said, implant placement after traumatic dental injury is not a procedure to be rushed. Dr Auerbach noted that the first step following any such injury is a thorough examination for soft-tissue lacerations and fractures, with swelling typically peaking at 48 hours post-injury. Implant placement in a traumatised socket requires careful assessment of bone integrity, healing of soft tissue, and — where there is any risk of infection — appropriate management before osseointegration can be attempted. In many trauma cases, a temporary restoration bridges the gap while the site heals.
The Unique Challenge of Sports Dentistry
Hughes’ case illuminates a specific and underappreciated challenge in sports dentistry: the tension between ideal long-term dental treatment and the practical realities of an ongoing athletic career.
Dr Auerbach noted that younger players in the early stages of their careers often do not get an implant after losing a tooth, since it could simply happen again. Instead, many choose partial dentures, while others go without entirely. “Ultimately, they hopefully have many years of playing,” he said.
Dr Eli Shteingart of Plaza Dentistry agreed, suggesting that Hughes could wear a removable temporary “flipper” tooth to maintain his smile while continuing to play, with definitive implant treatment deferred until the risk of re-injury is lower. For the most visible upper front tooth, an implant is the likely long-term recommendation. For the lower teeth, where larger chips were observed, full coverage zirconia crowns may offer the best outcome: durable, natural-looking, and protective of the remaining tooth structure for the rest of his career.
The Prevention Argument: Mouthguards
Every dentist who commented on the Hughes injury made the same observation: he should probably have been wearing a mouthguard.
Dr Auerbach noted that in some high schools, mouthguards in certain sports are not mandated — something he would like to see changed. At elite professional and Olympic level, mouthguard use is permitted but not universally adopted. The reasons are partly cultural — the toothless hockey grin has long been worn as a badge of honour — and partly practical, with some players reporting interference with breathing and communication on the ice.
Modern custom-fabricated mouthguards have addressed many of these concerns. Properly fitted to the patient’s dentition, they distribute impact forces, protect against crown fractures, and significantly reduce the risk of tooth avulsion. For any clinician with athlete patients, this case is a timely prompt to raise the conversation.
A High-Profile Moment for the Specialty
Hughes was characteristically upbeat about the road ahead. “I’m lucky I’m from the best country in the world, and we’ve got great dentists there too,” he said, caressing the gold medal hanging from his neck. “They’re gonna fix me right up.”
He is almost certainly correct. But for the dental profession, his case is more than a feel-good sports story. It is a real-time, globally visible illustration of traumatic dental injury, the decision-making framework that follows it, and the central role that implantology now plays in restoring function and aesthetics after tooth loss. Few patient education moments arrive with quite this much reach.
This article is intended for educational purposes. Clinical assessments referenced are based on publicly available broadcast footage and have not been verified by direct examination of the patient.
