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| It’s estimated that about three million people in the U.S. currently have dental implants, but there could very well be a sudden interest in these dental devices, thanks to an Argentinian dentist who successfully installed tooth-beer opener hybrids in the mouths of three rugby players.
According to Fast Company and the Toronto Sun, Dr. Sebastian Juri partnered up with Salta, an Argentinian beer company, to create and install the implants “to reward [rugby] players who gave everything they’ve got on the field — including their teeth.” Three Argentinian rugby players (Johnathan Batiga, Pablo Kwiczor, and Uriel Santiago) were each chosen to receive the new implants, rather than having their missing teeth replaced with traditional titanium implants. Just one implant has the power to open a bottle of beer, with a unique curved edge to pry off a sealed metal top. The bottle opener implants, just like traditional dental implants, were installed directly into the gums of the rugby players in a surgical procedure (and allowed to heal before the first test run in a local pub). Unlike normal implants, the bottle opener implant stands out in metallic stark contrast to the rest of the players’ teeth — but this aesthetic quality is a small price to pay for being That Guy at the party who laughs at the sight of a bottle opener. It doesn’t appear that these dental implants are available to the general public just yet, unfortunately; Salta is well known for its impressive advertisements, particularly ones that emphasize the company’s involvement in rugby. It’s reported that Molson is currently trying to fund a similar project for hockey players. |