Dentists on Ice

Meet the team of dentists at the Ghost Pirates’ beck and call — ready to suture gums and reconstruct teeth — one body check at a time

Written by ZACHARY HAYES

AS THE ZAMBONI CREEPS through its final lap and the players take to the ice, the crowd at Enmarket Arena erupts into an electric sea of black, white and neon green as the Savannah Ghost Pirates prepare to plunder their unlucky foes in the rink. Amid the chaos, several figures in the crowd watch intently, scrutinizing every blow and high stick as they wait for the inevitable incisor to go skittering across the ice. This is the Ghost Pirates’ dental team, a collection of some of Savannah’s finest dental minds that have joined forces to tackle even the toughest cases of tooth trauma. With the high intensity and physical brutality of your typical hockey game, nearly all professional teams enlist the help of a team dentist to treat players on and off the ice, but the Ghost Pirates have taken things a step further, building out a comprehensive roster of practitioners from a range of specialities to meet all of the team’s dental needs, no matter how grisly.

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IN NOVEMBER OF 2023, Ghost Pirates forward Alex Gilmour listened to the gentle whir of the reclining examination chair as Dr. Steven Berwitz came in close to inspect the damage. The day before, Gilmour had been gliding along the ice of Orlando’s Kia Center in a game against the Solar Bears when he took a puck to the face. A dentist for the Solar Bears checked him out and cleared him for play, but Gilmour felt something was off.

When the team arrived back in Savannah the next day, he went to see Berwitz, the team dentist for the Ghost Pirates, for a second opinion — his diagnosis: jaw fracture. Gilmour would be benched for eight weeks, his jaw wired shut as the team’s resources worked tirelessly to keep him fit and fed. This was not his first run-in with Berwitz that season, nor would it be his last, but with the experience and expertise of the Ghost Pirates’ dental team behind them, Gilmour and his teammates rest assured knowing that whenever dental disasters strike, they’ll be back on the ice in no time with a full set of pearly whites.

Dental teams in hockey are on the front lines of some of the most gruesome injuries in sports, parsing through gum lacerations and gap-toothed grins with care and speed as the players itch to return to the ice. Since joining the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in the 2022-2023 season, the dental team for the Savannah Ghost Pirates has been led by Berwitz, who personally enlisted the help of an elite squad of dental professionals for the job. A long-time hockey fan, Berwitz jumped at the opportunity when he heard that Savannah would be getting a professional hockey team of its own.

“When I was in school, I always joked around, ‘It would be so nice to be the team dentist for the New Jersey Devils,’” says Berwitz. “And then we moved to Savannah, and I didn’t expect a hockey team would ever show up here. But then, all of a sudden, news of the hockey team came, and being somebody in town to deal with a lot of dental trauma, I said, ‘Oh, this would be a great opportunity.’”

Berwitz is the main point person for the dental team, meaning he works with the Ghost Pirates through just about every game and every issue, from mouthguard fabrications to trauma treatment. During games, he sits in the stands just opposite the bench, giving him a perfect view when trainer Dillon Campbell gives him the signal.

“Dillon looks up to me and just kind of points to me, and I know that I need to head down to the locker room to suture somebody or take care of a dental injury,” says Berwitz. “You just never know what you’re going to get. But the players are really appreciative. Their main thing is they want to get back out on the ice as fast as they can.”

When he is called down to assist, Berwitz meets the injured players in the trainer’s room, where he has put together a comprehensive dental kit, allowing him to work on the majority of injuries right there in the arena. “It’s basically a tackle box filled with anything I can use,” he says. “Stuff to splint teeth if they’ve come out, local anesthetic, cements — just a whole host of dental supplies.”

Over the past two seasons, the Ghost Pirates have sustained a number of injuries during play, including mouth lacerations, displaced teeth and two jaw fractures — one each season — but when it comes to treating the players, the dental team must take into consideration much more than just the physical injuries.

“When your jaw is gonna be wired shut, you can’t skate, and we have to maintain your nutrition so that when the eight weeks pass, we can get you back on the ice,” Berwitz says in regard to treating Gilmour this last season. “Helping them not only through the dental aspect but also the psychological aspect is always a tricky situation.”

Managing the stress of being benched for eight weeks with a mouth full of metal is taxing enough, but this is not the only stressor players encounter when they’re referred to the dental team for treatment. As Berwitz will tell you, a trip to the dentist is an experience that can strike fear into the hearts of even the toughest players on the ice.

“It’s amusing at times because these guys are so tough, and you watch them draw gloves and fight often,” he says. “But the minute they’re in a dental office, it’s another story. The nice thing is that I get to know them really well, and I get to gain their trust. We develop a good rapport, and they become very comfortable. And at the end of the day, it always comes down to a bad experience they had once upon a time, just like everybody else.”

Of course, there are limitations to the kinds of medical care that can be done in the arena on the fly, so Berwitz often works with players directly in his Savannah-based dental practice as well. And in cases where more specialized care is warranted, Berwitz has enlisted the help of Chatham Oral Surgery, who has assisted in both of the jaw fracture cases, as well as the providers at Broderick, Dusek, and DeLeon Orthodontics and Savannah Endodontic Associates, who are on standby to help with displaced teeth and root canals as needed.

“It’s a really top-notch group of folks,” says Dr. Rebecca Aspinwall of Savannah Endodontic Associates. “Savannah is a small dental world, but because of the way Dr. Berwitz has shaped the team, we can help with whatever happens to the guys.”

While Berwitz and the rest of the dental team have worked tirelessly to keep the Ghost Pirates on the ice and smiling bright, full smiles, they also say that the opportunity to work together as a group of medical professionals has been a unique experience that they’ve come to cherish.

“Dentistry is a very solitary profession,” says Berwitz. “You’re working by yourself a lot of times, so it’s nice to work in an environment where you have a team. I get to work with a bunch of doctors from Optim Orthopedics; I get to work with the trainers for the team; I get to work with the chiropractor for the team. And so there’s this nice little medical community that the Ghost Pirates have. And it’s just an amazing feeling to be part of that.”

After eight weeks of a clamped jaw, liquid meals, and — toward the end — very careful no-contact training, Alex Gilmour was finally back on the ice and ready to see some action. He played it safe, wearing a full facial cage during games to protect his jaw from further injury, and with it, he managed to avoid another serious encounter with the dental team for some time. But just two months after his jaw had fully healed, Gilmour took a hard check into the boards, fracturing an upper tooth and sending him right back to the dentist’s chair for some serious reconstruction. Despite his repeated injuries, Gilmour remains ever grateful for the time he has spent working with Berwitz, a feeling he attributes to the doctor’s endless patience and positivity.

“In a hockey season full of surprise dental visits, Dr. Berwitz always made himself available when I needed it most,” says Gilmour. “Whether it was a simple cleaning, tooth reconstruction, or root canal, Dr. Berwitz was quick to aid in every situation, and his positive attitude and outgoing personality really made going to the dentist an enjoyable experience. Dr. Berwitz truly is the best around.”