BOSTON – It was a moment that went viral Monday Derrick White got a hit in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals and emerged bloody with a chipped tooth. “They were trying things in the locker room, I was like, I don’t care, just play,” White said after the NBA championship game.
‘I knew there would be damage’
Dentists Maged el-Malecki and Joey Chang of Boston Dental watched and knew it couldn’t be good. “When he went down with that much force in that direction, I knew there was going to be some damage to the teeth and/or bone,” said Dr. Chang in an interview with WBZ-TV.
The doctors didn’t know they would get a call for the solution. “I really thought, oh my God, I’m definitely going to be there and I’m going to help however I can,” said Dr. Chang.
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And of course, within days there was a duck boat parade with smiles on the line. “I definitely wanted to get him there with a smile,” said Dr. Chang.
There he was on Friday, a smiling Derrick White during the rolling rally party, who had admitted earlier this week that he didn’t want to show his pearly whites during the post-match party because of the tooth. But this player had risked everything.
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“This is spreading throughout Boston. Everyone is very happy to see him smiling the way he is laughing now,” said Dr. el-Malecki. “So we’re very happy to be a part of this.”
Dentists say it is a temporary solution
The hour-and-a-half procedure to repair the broken tooth after White collided with Mavericks player Dereck Lively is a temporary fix that was performed Thursday. When asked what type of patient he was, Dr. Chang: “He was very nice all the time. He was very humble. I can’t imagine a better patient.”
Now White will need follow-up actions to make it permanent unless something else happens. “Hopefully it will last a lifetime, unless he decides to do the same thing in a final next year. We will look after him here too,” said Dr. el-Malecki.
Thinking about next year, he says, is certainly something worth smiling about.
