A root canal may not have been on Dallas Baer’s bucket list for the school year, but in a strange turn of events it’s exactly what he had in store for him.
Dallas Baer is a junior on the varsity boys’ soccer team. “I’ve been playing for, I think, 8 years now and I play midfielder and center back.” said junior Dallas Baer. This year, they’ve played only seven teams and already one stands out, particularly to Baer.
“I really don’t remember anything, I just remember standing up and then realizing that I don’t have a tooth anymore. I remember them shoving my tooth back in and all that fun stuff.” said Baer.
Even though this injury may not seem like a huge deal to a spectator who watched the game, athletic trainers and teammates agree it could have caused much bigger issues, not just for the season but for the rest of Dallas’ life. “He could’ve completely lost the tooth if he hadn’t received the right care. You have very limited time to get the tooth back in for it to attempt to reattach itself…you have to be very careful with a tooth injury because you can cause additional and worse damage.” said Erin Harmon, LHS’ athletic trainer.
His teammates agree that even though the effects of his injury could have been nasty, the situation in general was strange to see and definitely an even stranger start to the season. “I saw Dallas collide and land on the ground and I didn’t see it come out but I saw him put his face in the ground and not pick it up…I was worried for him.” said sophomore Will Grenawalt.
“I was like ‘oh my gosh, how do you lose your whole tooth by getting hit by someone else’s head?’…this is the very first tooth in 17 years that I’ve seen come completely out. It is one of the weirdest for sure.” said Harmon.
This incident, however, is just the beginning of Dallas’ junior year and soccer season, both of which he has high hopes for. “I was in shock, I was a little scared about how it would affect the rest of my life, I have to wear a mouthguard for soccer now, for the rest of my life.” said Baer.
Even though this injury may come back to him later in life, there is lots of hope that the tooth can reattach itself, not without any procedures of course. “They’ll also do a root canal to help the tooth hold in and he’ll have to wear a wire for 6-8 weeks to help hold the tooth in. As he gets older and later in life he’ll probably end up getting a veneer, which is like a fake tooth.” said Harmon.
Tr-ooth be told, even though the recovery from this injury may be hard on Baer and his doctors or athletic trainers, it is undeniable the long-lasting effect this will have on the rest of his soccer career and how much a seemingly small incident can have an even bigger result.
