"Why you should always brush your teeth."
December 9, 2004 6:07 PM Subscribe
"Why you should always brush your teeth." Soldier, shot in the face point blank, survives quite literally by the skin of his teeth. Some not-too-bloody photos. (via dangerousmeta)
Obligatory Batman quote:
"Holy molars! Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!"
"True. You owe your life to dental hygiene."
posted by brownpau at 6:10 PM on December 9, 2004
"Holy molars! Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!"
"True. You owe your life to dental hygiene."
posted by brownpau at 6:10 PM on December 9, 2004
give the credit to alwin, please. i just spotted it on his site, and linked ...
http://ahawkins.org/2004/12/09.html
posted by crazyhorse at 6:14 PM on December 9, 2004
http://ahawkins.org/2004/12/09.html
posted by crazyhorse at 6:14 PM on December 9, 2004
crazyhorse - yes, it was from you that i first saw the link. Pretty cool.
posted by brownpau at 6:26 PM on December 9, 2004
posted by brownpau at 6:26 PM on December 9, 2004
I, too, had the experience of having "terrorist" jump out at me (the word, not the person).
Not surprised that he surrendered. Pretty sure if I shot a guy in the face and he kept coming that I would be waiting for some hack director to yell, "Cut!"
posted by flarbuse at 6:36 PM on December 9, 2004
Not surprised that he surrendered. Pretty sure if I shot a guy in the face and he kept coming that I would be waiting for some hack director to yell, "Cut!"
posted by flarbuse at 6:36 PM on December 9, 2004
Astonishing story. Lucky man.
The word 'terrorist' is subjective, as everyone from Sitting Bull to Menachem Begin and Gerry Adamswill tell ya.
Blog entry needs editing though...
posted by dash_slot- at 6:50 PM on December 9, 2004
The word 'terrorist' is subjective, as everyone from Sitting Bull to Menachem Begin and Gerry Adamswill tell ya.
Blog entry needs editing though...
posted by dash_slot- at 6:50 PM on December 9, 2004
Yeah. Terrorist did stick out a fair bit.
Although, I reckon this guy fell over, hit his teeth on a rock, then went back and told his mates that some Iraqi bastard just shot him point blank in the face with a 9mm pistol.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:57 PM on December 9, 2004
Although, I reckon this guy fell over, hit his teeth on a rock, then went back and told his mates that some Iraqi bastard just shot him point blank in the face with a 9mm pistol.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:57 PM on December 9, 2004
it's possible the round was defective. i kept looking for them to say what happened to the bullet. all it said was "stopped in it's track". was it stuck between his teeth?
posted by quonsar at 7:34 PM on December 9, 2004
posted by quonsar at 7:34 PM on December 9, 2004
isn't that it in the xray?
posted by puke & cry at 7:44 PM on December 9, 2004
posted by puke & cry at 7:44 PM on December 9, 2004
i was struck by the use of the term terrorist.
As was I, comrade.
posted by The God Complex at 8:03 PM on December 9, 2004
As was I, comrade.
posted by The God Complex at 8:03 PM on December 9, 2004
I consulted the family firearms expert - my hubby, the cop. He says a 9mm being stopped in this manner happens all the time due to various reason but his guess is that it was an old round. That would make it weak.
posted by justlisa at 8:07 PM on December 9, 2004
posted by justlisa at 8:07 PM on December 9, 2004
i was struck by the use of the term terrorist.
wow, quonsar, I didn't even notice that. Sublimity is a sneaky little mixer.
posted by clockzero at 8:41 PM on December 9, 2004
wow, quonsar, I didn't even notice that. Sublimity is a sneaky little mixer.
posted by clockzero at 8:41 PM on December 9, 2004
Well, this link indicates that a woman of that name was serving as a dentist a year ago with the 502nd Dental Company (I link to the cache because the google search link for the original story is broken).
Quonsar: From description and the X-ray, it seems that the bullet went in near his nose and hit the root of the tooth, which then caused it to shoot out. It wasn't lodged between his teeth so much as in the part of his skull next to his nose.
If it was a hoax (which I doubt), I'm not quite sure what the point would be. "Don't worry about your kids over in Iraq, sometimes the bullets just knock their teeth out instead of kill them" propaganda? It kind of lacks that false Moral of the Story content that made up stuff usually plays with.
posted by Planter at 9:45 PM on December 9, 2004
Quonsar: From description and the X-ray, it seems that the bullet went in near his nose and hit the root of the tooth, which then caused it to shoot out. It wasn't lodged between his teeth so much as in the part of his skull next to his nose.
If it was a hoax (which I doubt), I'm not quite sure what the point would be. "Don't worry about your kids over in Iraq, sometimes the bullets just knock their teeth out instead of kill them" propaganda? It kind of lacks that false Moral of the Story content that made up stuff usually plays with.
posted by Planter at 9:45 PM on December 9, 2004
I'm just wondering why in one photo he has a front right tooth and in the other he doesn't. Is it supposed to be before and after? Or maybe that's the answer: This was a simple extraction in a military dentist office and someone contrived a story to go along with it.
posted by fungible at 10:59 PM on December 9, 2004
posted by fungible at 10:59 PM on December 9, 2004
he also has blood on his collar in the second pic but not the first. you can see the entry wound right next to his nose.
posted by quonsar at 11:58 PM on December 9, 2004
posted by quonsar at 11:58 PM on December 9, 2004
"Meanwhile, the prosthodontist in Baghdad, LTC Richard Druckman, made him an acrylic interim treatment partial."
If you go by the filenames, the order is the picture with them pulling his lip up, then the xray, then the one with him smiling, so it works that he bled on the collar first, and then on a totally different day they brought him back, stuck the fake tooth in, so he's in a new uniform with no blood.
posted by queen zixi at 12:31 AM on December 10, 2004
If you go by the filenames, the order is the picture with them pulling his lip up, then the xray, then the one with him smiling, so it works that he bled on the collar first, and then on a totally different day they brought him back, stuck the fake tooth in, so he's in a new uniform with no blood.
posted by queen zixi at 12:31 AM on December 10, 2004
He's a real looker
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 2:11 AM on December 10, 2004
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 2:11 AM on December 10, 2004
Looks like the link is down. Anyone have it mirrored?
posted by davem at 5:57 AM on December 10, 2004
posted by davem at 5:57 AM on December 10, 2004
A lot of my fellow critical-care-types (and I) were just interested in the mechanism and resultant damage done of this particular injury. It's part of our working world, like nailgun shootings into the skull, strange foreign objects in body cavities, and interesting adaptations in lifestyle caused by the wide variety of the human condition.
No sociopolitical message intended. Sometimes a post is just a post.
posted by Alwin at 11:43 AM on December 10, 2004
No sociopolitical message intended. Sometimes a post is just a post.
posted by Alwin at 11:43 AM on December 10, 2004
quonsar, that was exactly my first reaction - how is the Iraqi dude with the gun automatically a terrorist? The good sgt. was in his country.
posted by Embryo at 1:52 PM on December 10, 2004
posted by Embryo at 1:52 PM on December 10, 2004
« Older Sore Thumbs | Photographs of the Iraq occupation Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by clockzero at 6:10 PM on December 9, 2004