Three hundred years of false teeth – in pictures

A new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection covers the past 300 years of dentistry: from blacksmiths removing rotten teeth with pliers, and dentures made with teeth stolen from corpses or – for the very wealthy – out of walrus ivory, to the pure white Hollywood smiles of Cary Grant and Shirley Temple. Objects on display include Napoleon’s toothbrush, a Mayan tooth inlaid with a jade stone, and a cockerel head into which surgeon John Hunter transplanted a human tooth. “The