On the Art of Teeth

When: Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 3:30 PM -
Where: Barts Pathology Museum

Speaker: Janetka Platun Dr David Mills

This site specific installation at Barts Pathology Museum is the culmination of a collaboration between artist Janetka Platun and Dr David Mills, a researcher from the School of Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London. 

This event will run between 3.30pm – 7.30pm, 3^rd – 6^th December 2025.

The work includes new film and sculpture that responds to the Museum’s own historic collection of tooth specimens dating back to the 19th century. These 24 specimens and their accompanying index cards, that form the ‘Diseases of Teeth’ collection, provide an insight into the range of problems faced by patients, and the (often brutal) history of dentistry in England.

The installation provides a rare opportunity to visit Barts Pathology Museum in London, a specialist medical museum at Queen Mary University of London, not normally open to the public.

The film and sculptural artworks in the installation are based on thousands of microtomography scans of the historic tooth specimens produced by Dr David Mills. The installation explores the inner world of teeth as sites of memory, loss and survival.

The project was originally commissioned by the Centre for Creative Collaboration at Queen Mary University of London. On the Art of Teeth is funded by Arts Council England and Queen Mary University of London.