British Teeth: An Excruciating Journey from the Dentist's Chair to the Rotten Heart of a Nation

As a child, William Leith was educated in old buildings, and dragged around ruins for a 'treat'. Later, he began to question the British love of everything decrepit. Was it a sign of a nation growing old gracefully, or of something altogether more ominous? Then something happened. A tooth, which had been throbbing for a while, snapped. At the same time, his 'period' home began to crack. During the course of his dental treatment, and the underpinning of his house, Leith cast his mind back over his personal history - his education, his diet and particularly his dentistry - and thought about what it was to be British...