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Meet Klopp's dentist who now works on most of the England squad!

  /  autty

England have only had one moment to smile about at Euro 2020 so far - Raheem Sterling's goal against Croatia - but who is the man behind the star's pearly whites?

The Three Lions winger is one of several footballers to use Dr Robbie Hughes, who is slowly earning a reputation as the football dentist among the Premier League's biggest names with his Dental Excellence UK clinic.

Dr Hughes' work, unlike Sterling's on the Wembley pitch, has gone unnoticed in the world of English football. The Liverpool fan has transformed Jurgen Klopp and Roberto Firmino's smiles and while he is not often given the credit he deserves, the sense of pride the young dentist feels is immense.

'Cosmetic dentistry is a common procedure, there's a lot of awareness of it,' he tells Sportsmail. 'It's becoming a trend. Most people look at their smiles and see it's a way to improve their image. They're on TV a lot and want these improvements.

'I feel very privileged and very thankful to be in the position to be able look after people in sport and people who play for the country at the Euros.

'It's not something that I feel overwhelmed by with regards to their fame and dealing with stars. It's just another mouth to me.'

His route to becoming 'The Dentist in Football' came via a lucky break. He was close friends with Liverpool-based stars Lee Peltier and James Vaughan, who at the time played for Liverpool and Everton respectively, before he was introduced to then Reds defender Martin Skrtel.

Skrtel put him in touch with his team-mate Lucas Leiva, and then the whole Brazilian friendship group at Anfield signed up to his services.

Dr Hughes' work ranges from fitting clear braces to restructuring the size, shape and colour of the footballers' teeth, to a full makeover of the mouth. Prices for these procedures range from £5,000 to £20,000.

The major transformation option involved in Klopp and Firmino's new set of teeth helped raise the profile of Dr Hughes' work - with one 2016 goal in particular changing his life forever.

The dentist recalls: 'Roberto scored away at Crystal Palace when he had just had his teeth fitted a couple of days before.

'He went to the corner flag and his teeth were just gleaming on the TV screen. Ian Wright was on the TV and helped out by saying, "lovely teeth there".'

No sooner had the Brazilian striker left Dr Hughes' surgery did Reds boss Klopp turn up at the door.

'Everyone noticed when Jurgen's teeth started transitioning in press conferences and it was brought up straight away', he says. 'He spoke about it in interviews and it was great for me.'

Word of Dr Hughes' work spread like wildfire through the football world. Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is now a client, while Philippe Coutinho also signed up to his services.

Players from Liverpool's rivals Manchester United and City also admired his work and signed up too, including Sterling and goalkeeper Ederson, while he also does work for the majority of the 'Avengers' group in football, consisting of Jack Grealish, James Maddison, Ben Chilwell and Ross Barkley.

Now Dr Hughes' company has grown from Liverpool to consultancy clinics in London and Dublin, does he have a favourite player he likes to treat?

'I wouldn't say I have a favourite - but I would put Bobby [Firmino] high up on the list,' he claims. 'We've had a great transformation with Bobby's smile and he's a lovely humble guy and I spend time with his children and we have a great relationship. He's always great to see and he's always smiling now!

'I have a great relationship with Sadio Mane as well. He's a great guy and he gave me some tickets for the Champions League final to thank me for my work.'

Another perk of the job is to see a different side of footballers. That is, unless, you are former Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli, who unsurprisingly could not stop laughing when he came into Dr Hughes' surgery for his first and only visit.

'We couldn't keep him still,' Dr Hughes remembers. 'He just found it all funny and quite amusing.

'It was a surreal experience. Most people don't want to be there but he was just laughing his head off.'

There's a more serious side to Dr Hughes' work too. He tries to educate footballers about keeping their mouth healthy as it could lead to severe problems longer down the line.

Players are put on high-frequency diets and are given glucose shots to help their performances, something that Dr Hughes regularly warns his clients about as they can have damaging impacts on the mouth.

He maintains: 'Our job first and foremost is to take care of the health of the mouth. That's always going to be the most important thing.

'I'm there to do a job and do a professional approach for them and meet their requirements, meet their expectations and make sure their mouth's healthy and educate them as best I can.

'I think people in sports in general need to have regular screenings and regular check-ups to make sure they don't have huge holes in their teeth or discomfort. That's what these things can lead to.

'They need to understand about the high-frequency diets they have in their teeth and that's just as important as anything else. We try to implement this education in all of our clients, not just the footballers. That sits at the top of our list.'

Even with stars who play for Liverpool's bitter rivals, Manchester United?

'Surprisingly I've seen a lot of Manchester United players and we get on very well!' he continues. 'They know I'm a big Liverpool fan and that's that.

'I think once or twice I've asked a couple of players to take it easy when they're playing us at the weekend.'

Dr Hughes will be hoping that England's Euro 2020 stars, many of whom are clients, carry on smiling for the rest of the tournament - for both his country and his company's sake.