Dental News - Two passions: Conveniently, Icelandic football manager can treat dental injuries

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 6. July 2018

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HEIMAEY, Iceland: Sportspeople in general often sustain some kind of injury. Concerning football, the most frequent include torn ligaments, strains and lacerations in the facial area. In case of any dental injuries on the field, head coach of the Iceland men’s national football team Heimir Hallgrímsson has just the skills needed. Being a dentist, he once fixed a tooth right on the field when watching a game.

In the 1990s, alongside practising as a dentist and playing football himself, Hallgrímsson took on the job of manager of a women’s team and he continued to manage various teams before becoming Iceland’s assistant manager in 2011. He became joint manager with Lars Lagerbäck in 2013 and was left in charge after the 2016 UEFA European Championship. However, he still continues to work at his dental practice in Heimaey, an island south of Iceland’s coast.

In an interview with the New York Times, Hallgrímsson said, “It is a good way to relax. Some coaches play golf, shoot reindeer, whatever—everybody has something, but I really enjoy going back home to my clients.”

Hallgrímsson still sees long-time patients who are willing to put up with the fact that he is not always around. Treating them, he said, is perfect preparation for dealing with football players. “You know how it is in the dental chair. Some are really afraid of going to the dentist. Others don’t mind one way or the other. The third group are sleeping. You have to approach each client in a different way—you have to adjust to his personality—and it’s the same with football players. You can shout at one but you have to be careful with how you approach another one,” he told the paper.

The practice of dentistry seems a world away from the football stadium; however, Hallgrímsson finds he can perfectly combine his two passions. “I was watching a local women’s game last summer when one of the players got knocked out and her tooth came out. So I jumped on the pitch and put the tooth back in, took her to a dental office and fixed it,” he recounted to The Sun.

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