Male hockey players suffer 100% more dental injuries than women. Even though it's completely avoidable
Although there is no official reason, Starting Hockey says it's because women's hockey is considered an 'amateur sport' even today.
Jack Hughes recently scored the winning goal at the 2026 Olympics, giving the United States its first gold medal in men's hockey since 1980. However, his historic win was far from easy. The 24-year-old athlete lost a chunk of his front tooth after opponent Sam Bennett's high stick hit him in the mouth late in the third period. Despite the pain, Hughes stayed on the ice, eventually securing the victory for Team USA, Yahoo Sports reported. While this incident caught widespread attention, it isn't the first time an NHL player lost their teeth during a match. In fact, players like Alex Alexeyev, Macklin Celebrini, and Brendan Gaunce, among others, have also endured painful dental injuries on the ice. But what's more intriguing is the fact that male hockey players are more likely to suffer dental injuries than women, and the reason is surprisingly linked to a patriarchal attitude towards protective gear.
Hughes' gap-toothed smile post victory is being widely hailed as "the golden smile" — an attitude that places injury as essential to valor. Most male hockey players don't wear a full-face cage, which would otherwise protect them and prevent such dreadful injuries on the field. For women, however, the rules are different. Even players competing at very high levels, such as the Winter Olympics or the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), are required to wear full face protection, either a cage or a full-face visor, SCORE reports. The sport requires players, men and women, to follow certain rules, for instance, the uniform. While policies regarding the rest of the safety gear, such as protective pads and skates, remain the same in both men's and women's hockey, the difference lies in the face shield. Although there is no official reason, Starting Hockey says it's because women's hockey is considered an "amateur sport" even today. "The higher up you advance in hockey, the fewer gear requirements there are; only professionals are not required to wear cages," the blog post added. In fact, this difference seems rooted in 'marketability' too.
Since men's ice hockey is more popular, their visible faces help marketing teams gain bigger sponsors. In fact, in addition to a culture of 'toughness,' they don't want to be seen as amateurs. A study contrasting men's injuries to women's in hockey found, "During the 7-year study period, men sustained a total of 2828 injuries and 475 687 exposures (5.95/1000 AEs), and women sustained 767 injuries and 149 137 exposures (5.12/1000 AEs)." It also found that "in women, 41% of the concussions sustained in games resulted from player contact, whereas 72% of those sustained by men were the result of player contact."
Pure Hockey recalls an incident with Kenneth William Clay, a former player for the Cariboo Hockey League’s Vanderhoof Bears, who "never dressed for an NHL game." The lack of any protection led him to lose his left eye "to a high stick." It led to the creation of the first clear hockey visor in 1964. Even Greg Neeld, a former junior defenseman, lost his left eye playing in a game for the Ontario Hockey Association’s Toronto Marlboros on December 7, 1973. But none of it has changed modern safety gear for men. "Neeld was selected 71st overall by the Sabres in the 1975 Amateur Draft, despite possessing sight only in his right eye," Pure Hockey reports, a glaringly biased decision revealing the differential treatment men still receive. In fact, after 'helmets' were made mandatory in 1979, players who joined the league before the rule was passed could still choose to ignore it — and most did.
Sarah Nurse, a Canadian ice hockey player, had also opened up on the debate in conversation with Ryan Whitney, a former NHL veteran. When asked if the PWHL will ever allow players to wear visors, she said there has been lots of discussion. Moreover, Sarah explained that NHL players switch to visors very early in their lives, so they know how to control their sticks, but things are a little different for women's hockey players. "I have a pretty beautiful face. I just got dental insurance this year; I don't want to be stuck in the face," she joked. This isn't a confession one would ever find at the men's table. Besides Sarah, other female players, such as Hannah Miller, had also opened up about the cage v/s visor debate, saying they have never really questioned the rule. "You go to college, men and women both wear cages or full masks there. And then, for us, at the international level, it's the same thing. So this is kind of new. This is the first legitimate pro league for us in North America. The only time you hear about it is in the comments or when fans bring it up," she added.
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