Jane Groenewegen was working at the Driftwood Diner in Hay River on Sunday morning when a customer came in telling her he'd noticed something unusual: a set of teeth in a snowbank.

Groenewegen says she was concerned not only because someone was missing them, but because they would be expensive and timely to replace.

"I gave him (the customer) a Ziploc bag and a napkin and asked if he'd go and retrieve them" she says. "Which he kindly did."

Groenewegen then snapped a photo of the teeth and posted it to the Hay River classifieds on Facebook.

By noon the search for the owner of the missing teeth had hit the local news and her post was being shared from as far away as Inuvik.

"I knew I was going to get some jovial and comical response to the post," she says, "but at the same time we will be very discreet if someone comes forward and says that they know whose they are or that they are theirs. We will hand them over without a word. I mean... things happen right?"

As for what may have happened, she can only guess.

"There were a lot of festivities and a lot of celebrating in Hay River over the weekend. And a lot of people in from out of town" she said. "Well, I guess somebody was partaking a bit too much and lost these."

While no one has come forward yet to get their teeth back, Groenewegen is optimistic.

"It's going to become very obvious this morning that someone is missing their dentures," she said.

"We just hope they aren't feeling too embarrassed to come forward. We will hand them over, we won't say a word."