Tooth saves soldier in Iraq.

SLEDGE HAMMER · Post by **SLEDGE HAMMER** » December 15th, 2004, 10:13 am

Christmas Eve morning a soldier came into our clinic at the Ibn Sina Hospital in downtown Baghdad covered in his own blood. He recounted an incredible story. Early Christmas Eve morning, two squads were assigned to sweep and clear two adjacent homes where Iraq terrorists were holed-up. The patient, SGT C, was leading one of those assault squads. The other squad hit their target first.

SGT C said that he heard a lot of small arms fire and yelling, so he thought he would round the corner and size up the situation before advancing his team. Unfortunately, as he turned the corner, he found himself staring directly into the barrel of a 9mm automatic pistol. SGT C said he never had time to be scared, he just knew he was dead. The terrorist pulled the trigger and, miraculously, SGT C found himself still standing. He figured the bullet had missed. He advanced on the Iraqi, who immediately surrendered. After the enemy was rounded up, SGT C said he started to feel light headed and one of his soldiers insisted that he proceed to the hospital. He realized at this time that he had lost his front tooth in the gun fight. He figured the ballistic shock from the weapon's blast had knocked it loose. He was wrong.

When he presented early that morning Major Kimberly Perkins, our oral surgeon, took a panograph and discovered the incredible truth. The 9mm bullet did NOT miss SGT C. He was hit directly in the face. The bullet entered just below his nose where it impacted the apex of #8. The energy from the bullet was transferred to the tooth, literally ejecting the tooth from its socket, and stopping the bullet in its track. Other than the missing tooth, the majority of SGT C's injuries were confined to soft tissue.

SGT C is a citizen soldier - a reservist. When he returns to the states, the Army will see he has an implant replacement for the missing #8. Meanwhile, the prosthodontist in Baghdad, LTC Richard Druckman, made him an acrylic interim treatment partial. When SGT C came in for the prosthesis, I said "Can you imagine what the enemy thought when he shot you point blank in the face, and you just kept coming at him! Americans are invincible. No wonder he surrendered so fast!"

SGT C smiled and said, "This is why you should always brush your teeth!"

By AnnaLee Kruyer DDS
Las Vegas, NV

Dud · Post by **Dud** » December 15th, 2004, 10:34 am

I'll be damn!
I was motivated to go get a thorough cleaning from this article until I remembered that the dentists here on post leave you feeling like you'd been shot in the face anyways.

Dud

SLEDGE HAMMER · Post by **SLEDGE HAMMER** » December 15th, 2004, 1:19 pm

Here are pictures:

hit_it · Post by **hit_it** » December 15th, 2004, 2:01 pm

fucking awesome.

one lucky summabitch.

Runner · Post by **Runner** » December 15th, 2004, 3:33 pm

Yeah, he has a pretty damn good reason to be smiling.

Malarkey

mipuke · Post by **mipuke** » December 15th, 2004, 3:44 pm

Damn! My luck the teeth would be the only things left!!

jakeshoe · Post by **jakeshoe** » December 15th, 2004, 6:52 pm

And the moral of this story is, carry something bigger than a 9mm...

pjd · Post by **pjd** » December 16th, 2004, 12:40 am

Un-fucking-beleivable. If I heard that story in a bar, I'd call BS. That's one lucky SOB.

rgrpuck · Post by **rgrpuck** » December 16th, 2004, 2:45 am

AND that my friends is why you carry a .45

Earthpig · Post by **Earthpig** » December 16th, 2004, 3:04 am

It was a bad round, I'm sure....light powder charge, bad primer, primer only....something. There used to be a photo making the LE circuit of a bad guy (post mortem), who advanced against a cop in a dark alley. The bad guy was swinging a 2x4 or a pipe , if I remember correctly. Eventually, the cop fired a round, striking the man in the mouth. The dude paused, spit out a tooth, and continued his advance. The next round literally stuck in his front lip. The remaining rounds were good and the cop toasted the guy. Pretty freaky, though. It's refreshing to hear this happen to a good guy, for once!

Moral: Change out your ammo regularly.

RLTW
EP

Joseph PrettyDeepWater · December 16th, 2004, 7:54 am

Ranger EarthPig wrote:

It was a bad round, I'm sure....light powder charge, bad primer, primer only....something. There used to be a photo making the LE circuit of a bad guy (post mortem), who advanced against a cop in a dark alley. The bad guy was swinging a 2x4 or a pipe , if I remember correctly. Eventually, the cop fired a round, striking the man in the mouth. The dude paused, spit out a tooth, and continued his advance. The next round literally stuck in his front lip. The remaining rounds were good and the cop toasted the guy. Pretty freaky, though. It's refreshing to hear this happen to a good guy, for once!

~Joseph

Tool175 · Post by **Tool175** » December 16th, 2004, 4:34 pm

Most arab rounds over here are very poor, ive seen them not even clear an AK barrel.

Steadfast · Post by **Steadfast** » December 17th, 2004, 8:06 am

That hadji made the Sgt lose 25 cents from the tooth fairy. One can change this Sgt's name to Iron Toof!