The most miraculous event I witnessed showed how a
tooth saved a sergeant's life!
Christmas Eve morning a soldier came into our clinic at the Ibn Sina
Hospital in downtown Baghdad covered in his own blood. He recounted an
incredible story. Early Christmas Eve morning, two squads were assigned
to sweep and clear two adjacent homes where Iraq terrorists were
holed-up. The patient, SGT C, was leading one of those assault squads.
The other squad hit their target first.
SGT C said that he heard a lot of small arms fire and
yelling, so he thought he would round the corner and size up the
situation before advancing his team. Unfortunately, as he turned the
corner, he found himself staring directly into the barrel of a 9mm
automatic pistol. SGT C said he never had time to be scared, he just
knew he was dead. The terrorist pulled the trigger and, miraculously,
SGT C found himself still standing. He figured the bullet had missed. He
advanced on the Iraqi, who immediately surrendered. After the enemy was
rounded up, SGT C said he started to feel light! headed and one of his
soldiers insisted that he proceed to the hospital. He realized at this
time that he had lost his front tooth in the gun fight. He figured the
ballistic shock from the weapon's blast had knocked it loose. He was
wrong.
When he presented early that morning Major Kimberly Perkins, our oral
surgeon, took a panograph and discovered the incredible truth. The 9mm
bullet did NOT miss SGT C. He was hit directly in the face. The bullet
entered just below his nose where it impacted the apex of #8. The energy
from the bullet was transferred to the tooth, literally ejecting the
tooth from its socket, and stopping the bullet in its track. Other than
the missing tooth, the majority of SGT C's injuries were confined to
soft tissue.
