TM, I think your dating yourself.(me too) My father was in the beer and wine carryout business until the mid 80's. I can remember growing up and some bartenders having missing teeth. I always though it was from barfights.(maybe some were) But, according to my dad, most were lost when a bartender was tapping a keg, and back then there was a stainless steel rod that had to be inserted down from the top of the keg. There was a compression type nut that had to be tightened down to keep the beer from coming around the rod. Sometimes the bartender didn't tighten down that nut far enough, and the rod would come flying back up out of the keg. (I still have 3 or 4 of those rods) and if the bartender was still bending over the keg, out go the teeth. Drinking beer and falling off the barstool wasn't the only dangerous things around a bar.
gypsyman