Doctors' Notes: Toothache
What's Up Docs?
BBC
4.4 • 659 Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris and Xand continue their conversation about toothache with Praveen Sharma, Associate Professor & Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at the University of Birmingham.
They explore how dental pain was treated in the past, and what’s changed since. They also explore how modern lifestyles and diets may be contributing to dental problems.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this or any other topic covered on the podcast, you email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or Whatsapp on 08000 665 123.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken Guest: Dr Praveen Sharma Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Editor: Jo Rowntree Researcher: Grace Revill Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable Visual Producer: Leon Gower Digital Lead: Richard Berry Composer: Phoebe McFarlane Sound Design: Ruth Rainey
At the BBC: Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
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| 0:34.2 | The Martin Lewis podcast, listen on BBC Sounds. Welcome to Doctor's Notes. I'm Chris |
| 0:41.5 | Van Tilken. I'm here with my identical twin brother. That's me, Doctor's On. And once again, |
| 0:45.9 | we're getting deeper into the topic we've just been discussing in our BBC Radio 4 podcast, |
| 0:50.9 | What's Up Docs. we're talking about toothache. |
| 0:59.9 | We've just been speaking to Praveen Sharma. He's an associate professor, an honorary consultant in restorative dentistry at the University of Birmingham. In the main app, Praveen took us through |
| 1:06.8 | the causes of toothache and some of the solutions to it and the importance of prevention. |
| 1:12.9 | And I think this is such a good topic because your teeth are so available to you in terms of |
| 1:19.3 | like anyone with teeth or without teeth can kind of run their tongue around their mouth |
| 1:23.1 | and immediately engage with this bit of their body. |
| 1:26.9 | You've got this bit of curiosity about what exactly is going on inside your teeth, or at least I do. |
| 1:31.8 | In Doctor's Notes, we're going to be digging more into the history of toothache, the solutions to |
| 1:36.6 | toothache, and... |
| 1:37.8 | And Praveen also told us about his own toothache, which is great. |
... |
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