Richard Barnett

You know the drill

The dentistes who emerged in Paris in the 17th century were simply tooth-pullers on the make, finding their fortunes in the mouths of the bourgeoisie

issue 19 May 2018

  • Teeth

    Wellcome Collection, until 16 September

In his Physiognomische Fragmente, published between 1775 and 1778, the Swiss physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater insisted that ‘clean, white and well-arranged teeth … [show] a sweet and polished mind and a good and honest heart’, while rotten or misaligned teeth revealed ‘either sickness or else some melange of moral imperfection’.

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

Ed McGuinness

What Kneecap won’t tell you about growing up in Belfast

The three members of Irish rap band Kneecap are ‘ceasefire babies’: they grew up on the streets of Belfast around the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. So did I. But the similarities between me and the band end there. Despite what some of Kneecap’s fans might think, there was nothing glamorous about

More on exhibitions

From the Magazine

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in