Despite wearing a mouth guard, Fletcher still lost two teeth after receiving a direct blow in the third quarter of the Round 16 match against West Coast. One of Fletcher’s lost teeth remained in his mouth guard, while the Essendon medical staff found the other one lying on the ground near where the incident took place.
Watching from the sidelines most people were surprised to see Fletcher return to the field after the incident. ""I think it was case of the coaching staff not realising how bad it might have been. He is a pretty courageous player and he went back on into the forward-line,"" Cato said.
Fletcher’s stay on the field was short lived and he was immediately sent to the West Coast Eagles' dentist surgery to get the teeth re-inserted. The Essendon medical staff had the good sense to put Fletcher’s two teeth in milk, which Cato said probably saved them.
""Luckily for us the West Coast Eagles’ dentist was at the match and was good enough to open up his surgery and called in a trauma dentist. He had a look at Dustin’s teeth and was able to re-insert them.""
Fletcher flew home with the team on Saturday with an extremely swollen mouth. ""He has been in a bit of discomfort as you would imagine. He has had that kind of throbbing pain that you get with the tooth area,"" Cato said.
