Shot in the teeth in Iraq

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DigMe

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Snopes says they're still researching this but if it turns out to be true (which photos seem to indicate) then it's pretty amazing! That Iraqi must have crapped his pants:

From a longer story supposedly emailed home by an Army dentist in Iraq:
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.

teeth40or.jpg


teeth68sy.jpg
Click to expand...

I saw this posted on the computer bulletin board of the school at which I work. I just posted it from Snopes though because it was in word doc. form.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/teeth.asp

Sorry if it's already been posted...I searched for "shot teeth Iraq" and it didn't come up.

brad cook
 
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If true it sound almost like a natural crumple zone of sorts, basically allowing the energy to bleed off through the break away tooth without allowing the energy to allow the bullet to continue on.

Now we all know that people will be jumping up and down about how 9mm sucks but let's all face facts right now. Our boy is very very very lucky and may very well have had one of his Guardian Angel's working overtime that day. He probablly could have taken a 12 gauge at close range and made it while that angel was on shift.

Chris
 
Actually this is similar to a story of a local Baltimore PD cop back in the 70s or early 80s who was off duty in a bar when some idiot came in with a .38 revolver saying he was going to rob the place etc. Well our hero went for his own gun and the robber saw and shot him in the face. The bullet went in the right side of his face smaching the teeth and part of the jaw and came to a rest after smacking the left side inside row of teeth. The cop who was just about in shock did the only thing he could do, "spit out the bloody mass of teeth and bullet on the bar. The burgler seeing this immediately put down the gun saying "Oh Sh^@, I'm sorry man." I met a cop who worked with the dude.

Apparently the cop managed to regain enough composure to more or less detain the guy until PD arrived and then pretty much passed out. Apparently it felt like a dentist had down something that had gone horribly wrong or that a firecracker had gone off in his mouth.

Chris
 
Lucky it was only a 9mm

I have posted many times that I feel a 9mm is nothing but a range plinker. And never should be used for defence. This is a good example as to how worthless they are. But I am glad the guy shooting at our guy was using it. :)
 
I don't think this story casts a bad light on the 9mm as it does shed good light on being lucky, which should be the Sargeant's new nickname.

First of all, a precise sequence of events had to happen exactly as they did for this to even happen. The bullet impacted the strongest anchoring point for the toughest tooth in the mouth, which is the upper incisors. A 9mm FMJ is noted for nothing, if not its high penetration, a fact many think leads to its lack of a "killer" reputation in that in FMJ form the bullets tend to ice pick their way through the body instead of coming to a rest with all of the "energy." Conversely, many, citing the FBI shootout, criticize 9mm JHPs for not penetrating enough. I tend to believe that modern 9mm JHP offerings have figured out the balance between pentration and expansion for this caliber. I do suspect that if a 9mm submachinegun round had been launched, the Sargeant's outcome would have been horribly different. As it stands, the highly impact resistant structures of the upper jaw and front tooth absorbed almost all of the force of the bullet, and I daresay would have likely carried away all of the energy from any FMJ loading that was not a full charge 10mm. If there is a "bullet resistant" area of the human body, the teeth and the frontal skull are those two spots.

It is my belief that this same failure to stop could have come about with a .40 S&W or a .45ACP, and one can dig up terrifying accounts of all popular pistol calibers failing for someone. I am not blustering as a pro-9mm guy, I rely on the .45ACP and .357 Magnum primarily, I just think the 9mm gets a bad rap. Everyone goes "shot placement, shot placement, shot placement. Well shot placement can be fantastic and still fail any pistol shooter firing any caliber, which is why I shoot heavier and/or faster rounds than the 9mm for self defense. However, I do like the 9mm and consider that there just too many variables to rely on only one solid hit from any pistol. In addition to shot placement, I have always ascribed to, "and make sure you keep shooting until the threat ends."

So the story also illustrates why relying on one shot is foolish from the shooter's standpoint. One solid double tap and there'd be no criticism of the 9mm from this story I suspect.
 
Now if that had been a .45, the poor guy would have been knocked back eighty or ninety feet. ;)
 
9mm is actually one of the more potent handgun rounds.

If you do a search you will come up with a bullet proof vest manufacturers website where they evaluate the degree of penetration of various handgun rounds, and the level of vest needed to stop them. 9mm scores higher than .45 acp or .40 S&W, in terms of its ability to penetrate/ energy.

9mm out of a 4" barrel is pretty darn close to .357 magnum out of a 4" revolver. I seldom hear anyone call .357 magnum a weak inerffective caliber.
But the myth that 9mm is weak still persists.
 
Now, now, I am a fan of both the 9mm and the .357 Magnum and not even I believe that the former is the near equivalent of the latter. The 10mm and the .357 run neck and neck depending on the best "hot" loadings for each, but the 9mm, even at +p+ is not in that same class.

On the contrary though, I don't think that the best .40S&W loadings are much to write home about compared with the best 9mm offerings.
 
No, his head would have exploded in a mist.
Click to expand...

Negative. You're thinking of the .44 magnum there.

Let us review our knowledge of how various handgun cartridges perform on head shots:
1. .25 acp- actually would have made the sgt. feel better.
2. 9mm- fleshwound, as we have seen.
3. .45 acp- would have picked the sgt. up and somersaulted him.
4. .44 magnum- red mist effect
5. .500SW- would have vaporized the Sgt. except for the soles of his boots and broken the shooter's arm into the bargain.

Now that we are clear on this, let's stop spreading foolishness and get back to the discussion.
 
I shoulda known this would start turning into another mundane caliber debate.

:rolleyes:

brad cook
 
Preacherman,

Bad. Funny but bad.

You know were I the shooter I would really be rethinking my whole Allah is on my side in this one belief. I mean If I just plugged an infidel, in the head no less, and didn't even slow him down then I would be thinking either my religious mojo to be a little lacking or this is one of those big ole' tests/cross to bear situations. At any rate me and Allah would be having a long talk after this incident.
 
Jim Cirillo tells the tale of a bad guy who was shot in the head with multiple rounds of .38

The fellow was down, apparently dead, and Cirillo was calling in with a description of the downed offender. He said something to the dispatcher like, "Subject is approximately 35 years old..."

The subject lifted up his head and said in a muffled voice, "I'm 28."

Cirillo did a double take, looked over and said, "What???"

Fellow repeated, "I'm 28, man."

The subject then asked for a handkerchief. When he blew his nose, one of the bullets fell out.

pax
 
Here's an interesting thought: What does this say about the level of training of these guys? Fortunately for Sgt. C. (or "Fang," as he's likely known by his squadmates) the terrorist fired one round into his target. Everything I've heard or read about combat pistolcraft says "keep shooting until the threat is eliminated." Not saying I'm any sort of expert on the subject, but it does make one wonder if they teach these guys things like that.
 
One of my distance relatives had a musket ball land in his mouth during the Civil War. Shot was from far away, so it didn't do anything. Thought that was a cool story.
 
Like the story about the Blackmarketeer in Warsaw, Poland back in the mid 50's. Had a terrible headache that just would not go away. Went to the hospital to see a Dr. Dr. takes Xray and finds a 9mm bullet inside the guys brain. Fella claimed he had no idea as to when it happened.

Who said strange stuff just doesn't happen?? :rolleyes:
 
I can't believe everyone missed the opportunity for a Snatch reference.

Everyone should call him Bullet Tooth Tony.
"I shoot you! You go DOWN!"

~Slam_Fire
 
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