Decoder Ring - The Bad-Mouthing of British Teeth
Slate Culture Feed30 Heinä 2025

Decoder Ring - The Bad-Mouthing of British Teeth

From The Simpsons’ Big Book of British Smiles to Austin Powers’ ochre-tinged grin, American culture can’t stop bad-mouthing English teeth. But why? Are they worse than any other nation’s? June Thomas drills down into the origins of the stereotype, and discovers that the different approaches to dentistry on each side of the Atlantic have a lot to say about our national values.

In this episode, you’ll hear from historians Mimi Goodall, Mathew Thomson, and Alyssa Picard, author of Making the American Mouth; and from professor of dental public health Richard Watt.

This episode was written by June Thomas and edited and produced by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Max Freedman. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.

Sources for This Episode

Goodall, Mimi. “Sugar in the British Atlantic World, 1650-1720,” DPhil dissertation, Oxford University, 2022.

Mintz, Sidney. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, Penguin Books, 1986.

Picard, Alyssa. Making the American Mouth: Dentists and Public Health in the Twentieth Century, Rutgers University Press, 2009.

Thomson, Mathew. “Teeth and National Identity,” People’s History of the NHS.

Trumble, Angus. A Brief History of the Smile, Basic Books, 2004.

Wynbrandt, James. The Excruciating History of Dentistry: Toothsome Tales & Oral Oddities from Babylon to Braces, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000.


Watt, Richard, et al. “Austin Powers bites back: a cross sectional comparison of US and English national oral health surveys,” BMJ, Dec. 16, 2015.

Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(2961)

ICYMI - This Country Runs On Slop

ICYMI - This Country Runs On Slop

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Mia Sato, reporter at The Verge and author of the recent piece, “The rise of the slopagandist.” Creators like Nick Shirley are claiming to be journal...

7 Helmi 39min

Culture Gabfest - The Boss Responds to Minneapolis Edition

Culture Gabfest - The Boss Responds to Minneapolis Edition

This week, Steve, Dana and guest host Sam Adams talk anti-authoritarian art in its many forms. First, they take up It Was Just an Accident, the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning film by Iranian filmmaker Jafa...

4 Helmi 58min

ICYMI - Is Digital Detoxing Being "Performatively Offline"?

ICYMI - Is Digital Detoxing Being "Performatively Offline"?

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Alex Kirshner, Slate contributing writer and host of Hang Up And Listen. Back in September, Alex wrote about Brick, the plastic gadget he says “broke...

4 Helmi 34min

Death, Sex & Money - The Women Who Made George Saunders A Wife Guy

Death, Sex & Money - The Women Who Made George Saunders A Wife Guy

Growing up, George Saunders was the eldest boy with younger sisters, in a family full of women who gave him praise and special treatment. That created the confidence that fueled his ambition to become...

3 Helmi 59min

Hang Up and Listen - Winter Olympics Show-and-Tell

Hang Up and Listen - Winter Olympics Show-and-Tell

Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh kick things off by picking their favorite (and the most horrifying) events to watch at the upcoming Winter Olympics.Then the panel digs into Bill ...

2 Helmi 1h 16min

ICYMI - I Miss The Old TikTok

ICYMI - I Miss The Old TikTok

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Laura Wheatman Hill. Her Slate piece, “We Should Just Let TikTok Die,” documents life under TikTok’s new ownership. Algorithm glitches and all...

31 Tammi 36min

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Starman to Blackstar Edition Part 2

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Starman to Blackstar Edition Part 2

Chameleon: That’s long been the word used to describe David Bowie, pop music’s shapeshifting extraterrestrial. He shifted personas, genres, and looks, emerging from swinging London with psychedelic fo...

30 Tammi 57min

Culture Gabfest - Is Hamnet this Year’s Oscar Villain? Edition

Culture Gabfest - Is Hamnet this Year’s Oscar Villain? Edition

Shuffling under the mortal coil this week (aka hosting the Gabfest), it’s our OG players Steve, Dana, and Julia. Like a morose Danish prince contemplating a human skull, they gaze upon the Oscar nomin...

28 Tammi 1h 27min

Suosittua kategoriassa Viihde

anni-jaajo
tuplakaak
grekovit
hei-baby-3
terveisia-perheesta
the-harlin-show
antin-palautepalvelu
dear-shirly
antin-elokuvakerho
bella-table
verhon-takaa
nonsensepodi
dear-shirly-ja-arttu
get-jassud
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
tahtitehdas
hollywood-love-stories-2
everypodi
tervo-halme
suomen-suosituin-podcast