Cracks under pressure...

After Cracking Under Pressure, Marco Rubio’s Molar Gets a Campaign Trail Fix

Twix bar is the culprit; S.C. dentist fills in until Florida senator can return home

By Erica Orden

The fierce contest for the Republican presidential nomination has claimed its latest casualty: Marco Rubio’s back tooth.

Aboard a flight to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening, Mr. Rubio, the Florida senator, cracked a molar while snacking on a Twix bar, he told reporters on Thursday when he stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for breakfast with his wife and four children.

“I just bit into a Twix bar and I go, ‘Man this Twix bar’s got something really hard in it,’” Mr. Rubio said, recalling the incident. “And I go, ‘Oh my gosh, I cracked my tooth.’”

The injury wasn’t painful, Mr. Rubio assured reporters, and at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning, he visited a dentist for a temporary fix of resin filler.

The senator intends to get a permanent replacement from his regular dentist the next time he returns home to Miami. He is scheduled to campaign in South Carolina for at least the next several days, ahead of Saturday’s GOP debate in Greenville and the Feb. 20 primary in the state.

Mr. Rubio, 44 years old, made light of the incident on Thursday: “I think I’m getting old, man.”

At Cracker Barrel, the senator sought to follow the dentist’s instructions by order soft foods: a plate of blueberry pancakes, accompanied by blueberry syrup.

And though the dental injury may have sidetracked Mr. Rubio briefly on Thursday morning, it didn’t appear to affect his appetite: the senator demolished all but about four bites of his three large pancakes.