Rowan Kavner
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. - A trip to the dentist is becoming a normal routine for Austin Rivers.
After taking an elbow to the face in China, Rivers is back on the court but still dealing with the after effects of damaging multiple teeth on the bottom row of his mouth.
“It was swollen for like a week,” Rivers said. “I just got a root canal yesterday, so it’s pretty sore again. Now I’ve got to take this bar out, so it’s just a process.”
Rivers clarified what exactly happened after taking an inadvertent elbow from rookie Branden Dawson. He said one of his teeth came out, and a few others were pushed back in his mouth and left hanging.
Rivers said it is what it is, and he’s surprised it doesn’t happen more often in basketball. Rivers has had a tooth knocked out before, but never multiple teeth all at once. He said it was a painful injury that also required stitches in his gums.
“But it’s just my mouth,” Rivers said. “As long as they make it look good, that’s all I care about. As long as they get my teeth straight again and keep them straight, at least I’ve got my top teeth.
“They’ll be fine. They put it back together. Now it’s just a process. Over the next month, I have to go in five times to get it fixed.”
That would be five more dentist trips on top of the four he’s already had. He said those five more scheduled appointments are for checking up and shaving the teeth down.
In addition, Rivers now has to wear a mouthpiece on the floor, something he’s never had to do before. His diet’s also changed as a result.
“A lot of shakes and soup, stuff like that,” Rivers said. “I can’t eat a lot of things. A lot of protein to keep my weight up.”
Head coach Doc Rivers joked that it may be a mean thing to say, but in the end, it’s just part of sports and it’s just teeth. He said people can play without them and Austin will be fine.
“You can get new ones,” Doc Rivers said.