Oilers forward Ryan McLeod explains his decision to stay toothless

Hockey players are known across all the major sports for being the toughest athletes. The biggest piece of evidence to support hockey players being the toughest athletes are how many are missing teeth, and have no plans on fixing their teeth. Oilers forward Ryan McLeod has one of the best hockey smiles in the league, and recently on the Jason Gregor show he spoke about the decision to stay toothless.

McLeod also continued to say he finds the fakes uncomfortable, and they give him a worse lisp than he has from having no teeth already. Even more, the classic hockey answer is that you don't fix your teeth until your playing days are over.


It's incredible to see the hockey smile continue into even the modern game. While hockey moves past plenty of its old traditions of physical play and fighting, the insane toughness is still there in most players, and it's especially evident in the toothless wonders like Ryan McLeod.