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Grin and bear it: NHL players say losing teeth part of game

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, file photo, Pacific Division defenseman Brent Burns (88), of the San Jose Sharks, talks with a referee during the NHL hockey All-Star championship game in Nashville, Tenn. When Brent Burns packs his bags for road trips, the Sharks defenseman usually leaves some cosmetic teeth behind. “I don’t wear them often,” he said. “I usually find them in a drawer a couple months down the road and put them somewhere safe, forget where that is, and find them a couple months later.” (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, file photo, Pacific Division defenseman Brent Burns (88), of the San Jose Sharks, talks with a referee during the NHL hockey All-Star championship game in Nashville, Tenn. When Brent Burns packs his bags for road trips, the Sharks defenseman usually leaves some cosmetic teeth behind. “I don’t wear them often,” he said. “I usually find them in a drawer a couple months down the road and put them somewhere safe, forget where that is, and find them a couple months later.” (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, file photo, Pacific Division defenseman Brent Burns (88), of the San Jose Sharks, talks with a referee during the NHL hockey All-Star championship game in Nashville, Tenn. When Brent Burns packs his bags for road trips, the Sharks defenseman usually leaves some cosmetic teeth behind. “I don’t wear them often,” he said. “I usually find them in a drawer a couple months down the road and put them somewhere safe, forget where that is, and find them a couple months later.” (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

By Associated Press 4 min read

When Brent Burns packs his bags for road trips, the San Jose Sharks defenseman often leaves something behind: his cosmetic teeth.

“I don’t wear them often,” he said. “I usually find them in a drawer a couple months down the road and put them somewhere safe, forget where that is, and find them a couple months later.”

Burns, a happy-go-lucky guy, said he is missing three of his real teeth and a fourth is “hanging on by a thread.” He is holding out hope it won’t join his other missing Chiclets.

“I need that one for corn on the cob,” Burns said with a gap-filled smile.

Missing teeth have been associated with hard-nosed hockey – for better and for worse – for decades, becoming a stereotype of the game even with some players, like Burns, embracing it as a rite of passage or badge of honor. Gordie Howe, Bobby Clarke, Ken Daneyko, Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull – all have grins famous for what’s not there. Chicago’s Duncan Keith had seven teeth knocked out by a puck in the Western Conference final-clinching game in 2011 against San Jose and quipped afterward: “You’ve got leave it all on the ice.”