Joseph Foster

Research Topic

A State of Frustration: The History of Fluoridation in Great Britain, 1960-2003.

Fluoridation, the practice of adding fluoride compounds to the water in order to reduce the incidence of dental caries, is only practiced in approximately 11% of Great Britain. My project explores the reasons for this lack of coverage.

I engage with questions surrounding the role of trust in public health, the use and misuse of "scientific fact", and the growing importance of environmentalism, especially regarding the quality of food and water in Great Britain.

I graduated with a first-class BA in History at Oxford (2023), and I was awarded an MSc in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology (2024), during which I wrote my dissertation on the role played by dental mechanics in the development of post-war dental services, and the role of the British Army in promoting dental care amongst the British people.

Winner of the 2024 Jane Willis Kirkaldy Senior Prize: ‘An Abnormal Monopoly: Dentures, Dental Mechanics and Dental Consciousness in Peace and War, 1929-1952'

Supervisor: Mark Harrison and Matthew Landrus