What happened to D-White's teeth?? C's star explains bizarre incident

Yahoo

07-03-2025

What happened to D-White's teeth?? C's star explains bizarre incident originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Most Boston Celtics players will spend Friday getting some much-needed rest and preparing for Saturday's showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Derrick White will spend Friday at the dentist's office.
The Celtics guard took a Kelly Oubre Jr. elbow to the face in the first half of Boston's win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, and a replay revealed that a tooth (or two) actually flew out of White's mouth on the play.
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White immediately covered his mouth with his jersey and made a beeline to the locker room, but surprisingly returned to action in the second half looking (relatively) no worse for wear.
So, how did White's teeth fall out so easily, and how was he able to get them back in? It turns out the teeth that fell out were the artificial teeth he had put in over the summer after chipping his front teeth during Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
'These four (teeth) are connected like a bridge, I guess is what the dentist people call it,' White told reporters after the game. 'Shout-out Boston Dental, I'll see you tomorrow, by the way. So, that fell out.'
White admitted he had skipped a recent appointment to replace that bridge with permanent teeth.
'I was supposed to go in probably two weeks ago,' White told added. 'But I kept pushing it off to get my permanent ones. But I'm gonna go tomorrow.'
Losing fake teeth is a lot less painful than losing real teeth. So, White and the medical staff were able to find an ad-hoc solution at halftime to put his 'bridge' back in his mouth and get him back on the court.
'Luckily they were right there. I picked them up, and we went to the back,' White said. 'I was trying to debate how I was going to go back, and then got some glue, put the mouthpiece on, and good to go. … It's not a pretty sight, so thankfully I covered my mouth right away.'
The tooth incident may have affected White's shot — he made just 1 of 6 attempts in the second half and went 0 for 4 from 3-point range — but as usual, he found other ways to impact the game, recording all six of his assists after halftime to help the Celtics earn a 123-105 victory.
If White was looking for sympathy from his teammates, though, he didn't find any.
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'Kids, that's why you've got to make sure you make those dentist appointments, because you might get elbowed in the face and lose your teeth,' big man Luke Kornet said in his 1-on-1 with NBC Sports Boston's Abby Chin after the game.
'Yeah, it's his own fault,' head coach Joe Mazzulla deadpanned in his 1-on-1 with Abby Chin when asked about White.
So, White clearly learned his lesson and insisted his teeth will be all fixed ahead of Saturday's game against the Lakers. Does that mean he'll start wearing a mouth guard as well?
'No,' White said. 'I'll consider it, though. But no, probably not.'