Should the water you drink help protect your teeth or be left alone? Oroville residents will have a chance Tuesday, Sept. 23 to weigh in on whether the mineral fluoride stays in their tap water.
Oroville is the only city in Butte County that adds fluoride to its drinking water, which it started doing nearly 70 years ago. But last July, the city council voted to end the practice, arguing residents should choose what goes into their bodies.
“I think that's what we're all about, personal choice,” Oroville Mayor David Pittman said, noting times have changed since the city first started fluoridating its water and that fluoride is in almost every toothpaste on the market.
“It’s important that residents show up to the meeting to make sure their voices are heard."- Loni Lind, California Water Service manager
But to the frustration of the mayor, Oroville residents are still drinking fluoridated water more than a year after the council’s decision. That’s because by law, it’s the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) — not the city council — that has final say on whether water fluoridation is allowed to stop. Now, the CPUC says it needs to hear directly from the community at a public meeting before it makes any decision.
“It’s important that residents show up to the meeting to make sure their voices are heard,” said Loni Lind, manager with California Water Service (Cal Water), the local utility that manages a large portion of the city’s drinking water.
“The CPUC is going to decide one way or another, and if customers come out to express their opinions they're likely going to be making their decision with those opinions in mind,” she said. “It's going to become a part of public record. It's going to inform the decision of the law judge who will be there in person that day.”
Public health concerns in Butte County
Fluoride has been added to public drinking water in the country since 1945. It’s a mineral that is found naturally in soil, water and foods, and it’s scientifically-proven to strengthen teeth and reverse decay.
“When we add fluoride to the drinking water, we have strict guidelines on how much we add at any given time and how often we measure it."- Loni Lind, California Water Service manager
The CDC named it one of the greatest achievements of public health of the 20th century. There’s a consensus in the medical community that fluoridation is beneficial for public health, when added at the appropriate amount.
“When we add fluoride to the drinking water, we have strict guidelines on how much we add at any given time and how often we measure it,” Lind said, “and so we measure those numbers every day and make sure that they're within the parameters that are set by the health experts at the Division of Drinking Water.”
In recent years, a handful of studies have come out that appear to link high levels of fluoride exposure with lower intelligence in children. However, the studies involve a level of fluoride that is much higher than what is used in the U.S. water system.
Most experts agree there isn’t enough data to determine if fluoride exposure at lower levels could affect children’s IQ.
“If people are concerned about decreases in IQ or increases in autism, we are not seeing that in the Butte County population health data,” said Dr. Jarett Beaudoin, the county’s public health officer.
When Beaudoin first heard that the City of Oroville planned to stop fluoridating its water, he said he immediately thought of what this would mean for residents’ teeth.
“This is not Sacramento, where you can throw a rock and hit a pediatric dentist. It is hard to find a pediatric dentist here, and so I think we need [fluoridation] more than any other place in California.”- Dr. Jarett Beaudoin, Butte County public health officer
“The first thing that crossed my mind was, ‘Oh, God, they're going to have more cavities down there,'" he said.
Beaudoin said there’s already a shortage of dentists in Butte County, and Oroville has been hit particularly hard. On average, communities that fluoridate water experience 25% fewer cavities. He said it’s low-income families that can’t afford to go to the dentist that benefit most from fluoridation.
“This is not Sacramento, where you can throw a rock and hit a pediatric dentist,” he said. “It is hard to find a pediatric dentist here, and so I think we need this more than any other place in California.”
A changing conversation
The story of how fluoridation came to Oroville has to do with the town’s residents, who in the mid-20th century sent several petitions and letters to city council, requesting fluoride be brought to their community.
In 1954, the city passed an ordinance to begin fluoridation, and since 1957, Cal Water has been adding the mineral to the water.
Decades later, the conversation around fluoridation has changed a lot — both in Oroville and nationally. In March of this year, Utah became the first state to ban the use of fluoride in drinking water, citing research that exposure to fluoride at twice the recommended level can be associated with lower intelligence in children.
“I would receive calls from customers asking if we add fluoride to the drinking water, at what concentrations, and if we could stop once they find out that we do."- Loni Lind, California Water Service manager
In November 2024, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted on X that one of his first acts in the Trump administration would be to “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.”
Lind says that in recent years, Cal Water has been contacted by residents asking about fluoride.
“I would receive calls from customers asking if we add fluoride to the drinking water, at what concentrations, and if we could stop once they find out that we do,” she said.
For now, Lind says Cal Water will continue to add and monitor fluoride levels in the Oroville water supply as long as it's required to.
A representative for the CPUC told NSPR by email that a decision will be made by the commission by March of next year.
The meetings — one at 2 p.m. and the other at 6 p.m. — will be on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the Oroville City Council Chambers.