Fluoride in Lewisburg, TN
Lewisburg's Duck River water has not been fluoridated since 2008. Its own current report lists no fluoride at all — here is the record, stated plainly, and what it means for your teeth.
Lewisburg’s water is not fluoridated. The city ended fluoridation in 2008, its current water quality report lists no fluoride result at all, and independent testing lists fluoride as not detected. No current level exists to publish — so this page publishes none, and shows the record behind the status instead.
How this page works: the status below rests on the documented 2008 end of fluoridation, corroborated by the utility’s own current report and independent testing — not on a marketing claim or a guess. New to the topic? Start with our full fluoride guide.
Water quality in Lewisburg
Curious about your tap water? Tennessee Water Authority has the full Lewisburg water quality guide — contaminant data, utility details, and filter recommendations.
Lewisburg’s fluoride, by utility
Everything on this page traces back to these facts, from each utility’s own published water quality report.
STATUS Not fluoridated — ended in 2008
Lewisburg ended fluoridation in 2008. Its current report carries no fluoride row, and independent testing detects none.
LEVEL No level published
Not fluoridated — no level
EWG’s record lists fluoride as tested for but not detected; the utility’s 2025 report lists no fluoride result.
UTILITY Lewisburg Water System
Lewisburg Water & Wastewater, PWSID TN0000400. Serves about 22,273 people.
SOURCE Duck River
Surface water from the Duck River, drawn nine miles north of town (the utility’s own report).
How the levels compare
A number by itself doesn’t tell you much. Here are the verified figures next to the three benchmarks that matter, each labeled for exactly what it is.
| Benchmark | Level | How it compares |
|---|---|---|
| Lewisburg Water System, today | Not fluoridated — no level | Fluoridation ended in 2008; the 2025 report lists no fluoride result and EWG lists fluoride as not detected. |
| CDC recommended level | 0.7 mg/L | The target a fluoridating system aims at. Lewisburg’s water is not adjusted toward it. |
| EPA secondary (non-enforceable) standard | 2.0 mg/L | A guideline aimed at preventing cosmetic effects like tooth discoloration. |
| EPA enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) | 4.0 mg/L | The legal limit — a ceiling, not a target. |
The empty slot is the honest answer: a system that does not add fluoride, whose report lists no fluoride result and whose independent testing detects none, has no level for this table — so none is invented.
Marshall County is not one water system
Bedford County UD, Marshall County PU #1, Chapel Hill, and Maury County Water System are separate systems around Lewisburg. We could not verify fluoride figures for them, so this page publishes none — check your own bill and your own utility’s report.
Do you still need fluoride toothpaste?
Yes — and this is the point people most often get backwards.
Fluoridated drinking water is background exposure — a low level bathing your teeth through the day. Lewisburg’s water provides none of that layer: fluoridation ended here in 2008. What remains is the main event itself.
Brush twice daily with fluoride toothpaste. In a non-fluoridated city, toothpaste is not the backup — it is the whole daily defense, for adults and kids alike.
Fluoride and kids: the amounts matter
Young children swallow toothpaste, so the ADA's guidance is about using the right small amount — not about avoiding fluoride toothpaste.
UNDER 3 A rice-grain smear
For children under age 3, use a smear of fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice. That tiny amount is deliberate — it protects the teeth while keeping what gets swallowed to a minimum.
AGES 3+ A pea-size amount
From age 3 up, a pea-size amount is enough. A ribbon of paste running the length of the brush is several times more than a child needs.
- Supervise brushing. An adult should be watching (and helping) until a child can reliably spit and rinse on their own.
- Teach spitting, not swallowing. Spit the toothpaste out when done; swallowing it as a habit is what the small amounts are designed to guard against.
- Don’t load the brush. More paste does not mean cleaner teeth — it mostly means more swallowed.
What about fluoride varnish at the dentist?
An in-office fluoride treatment or varnish is a much stronger, targeted dose than anything in tap water or toothpaste.
With no fluoride in Lewisburg’s tap water, varnish is worth a real conversation at checkups — especially for kids and for adults at higher cavity risk: people with recent cavities, dry mouth, braces, or exposed tooth roots. It puts a much stronger dose directly on the teeth, exactly where a clinician can see it’s needed.
If your cavity risk is low, it’s also reasonable to ask your dentist to walk you through your risk before a treatment — in either direction, the decision should be explained, not automatic.
On a private well? None of this applies automatically
Well water is not fluoridated by any utility
Nobody adjusts the fluoride in a private well — or tests it, unless you do. Well water may carry naturally occurring fluoride, almost none, or more than you’d expect, and taste won’t tell you. This matters in Marshall County, where a home can be minutes from a city main and not connected to it. Test your well water before assuming what’s in it, and tell your dentist you’re on well water so your fluoride plan is built on your actual water, not the city’s.
How to confirm Lewisburg’s level yourself
Don’t take our word for it — the primary sources are public.
- Read the utility’s current water quality report. The Lewisburg 2025 report, published at lewisburgwater.org, lists its detected contaminants — fluoride is not among them, because the system does not add it.
- Check CDC’s My Water’s Fluoride. The CDC’s system-by-system tracker at nccd.cdc.gov/DOH_MWF lists fluoridation status and levels for community water systems. Search for the Lewisburg Water System (TN0000400).
- Check whose name is on your bill. If your bill names Bedford County UD, Marshall County PU #1, Chapel Hill, or Maury County Water System, ask that system directly — this page could not verify their fluoride figures.
For the bigger picture — how fluoridation works, the arguments on both sides, and how to think about filters — see our full fluoride guide.
Questions people actually ask
Asked the way people actually ask them — answered from the sources cited below.
No. Lewisburg ended fluoridation in 2008 — contemporaneous reporting on Columbia's later debate describes Columbia's vote as a step Lewisburg took in 2008. The utility's current report carries no fluoride row at all, and EWG's database lists fluoride among the chemicals tested for but not detected in Lewisburg's water.
One local account is worth knowing, labelled for what it is: reporting on Columbia's 2013 fluoridation debate quoted a Lewisburg dentist who said he had seen a 70–80 percent increase in cavities in the five years since Lewisburg's 2008 decision, including at least three full-mouth extractions on children under five. That is one clinician's reported experience, not a study — but it is part of why this page treats the status as worth stating plainly.
There is no current level to publish — the system does not add fluoride, its current water quality report lists no fluoride result, and independent testing detects none. Any small amount present would be whatever occurs naturally in the Duck River source, and no source we could read puts a verified number on it.
Not automatically. Bedford County Utility District, Marshall County Board of Public Utilities #1, Chapel Hill Water System, and Maury County Water System serve the surrounding area as separate systems. We could not verify fluoride figures for those four, so this page publishes none for them — check your own utility's current water quality report, or ask the utility directly whether it adds fluoride.
Yes — here it matters even more. With no fluoride added to the tap water, fluoride toothpaste twice a day is the main daily cavity protection for you and your kids. Toothpaste delivers the concentrated dose directly to the enamel; there is no background layer from the water underneath it in this system.
The ADA's guidance: for children under age 3, use a smear of fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice. For ages 3 and up, a pea-size amount is enough. Supervise brushing, teach your child to spit the toothpaste out rather than swallow it, and remember that more paste on the brush does not mean cleaner teeth — the small amounts are deliberate, because young kids swallow some no matter what.
It is a conversation worth having. With no fluoride in the tap water, an in-office fluoride treatment or varnish is one of the main ways to put a stronger dose directly on the teeth, and it remains worthwhile for kids and for adults at higher cavity risk — people with recent cavities, dry mouth, braces, or exposed roots. If your cavity risk is low, ask your dentist to explain your risk either way rather than accepting or skipping it on autopilot.
No utility fluoridates private well water — nobody adjusts it at all. Well water can contain some naturally occurring fluoride, a lot, or almost none, and you cannot tell by taste. If your home is on a well in Marshall County, have the water tested before assuming anything about its fluoride level, and tell your dentist you are on well water so your fluoride plan reflects it.
Start with the utility's current water quality report at lewisburgwater.org — a fluoridating system lists fluoride as an additive; Lewisburg's 2025 report has no fluoride row. You can also check CDC's My Water's Fluoride, which tracks fluoridation status by water system, and EWG's record for the Lewisburg Water System (TN0000400), which lists fluoride as tested but not detected.
Sources & method
- Lewisburg Water & Wastewater, Water Quality Report 2025 (2025 data) — the contaminant table lists no fluoride row; system TN0000400; published at lewisburgwater.org.
- EWG Tap Water Database — Lewisburg Water System (TN0000400): fluoride listed among chemicals tested for but not detected; ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=TN0000400.
- Columbia Herald reporting, archived by the Fluoride Action Network — Columbia’s 2013 fluoridation debate described as “a step Lewisburg took in 2008”; a Lewisburg dentist’s reported post-2008 cavity increase; fluoridealert.org/news/columbia-utility-mulls-removing-fluoride-from-city-water. (FAN is an advocacy organisation; the item is contemporaneous local reporting.)
- Fluoride Action Network, Tennessee state page — communities that rejected fluoridation: Lewisburg, 11,000, 2008; fluoridealert.org/researchers/states/tennessee.
- Lewisburg Water & Wastewater, earlier CCR — source water: Duck River, nine miles north of town.
- CDC — recommended fluoride level of 0.7 mg/L for community water systems; fluoridation status and levels are also tracked in CDC’s My Water’s Fluoride.
- EPA — enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 4.0 mg/L and secondary (non-enforceable) standard of 2.0 mg/L for fluoride in drinking water.
- American Dental Association (ADA) — children’s toothpaste amounts: a rice-grain smear under age 3, a pea-size amount at ages 3 and up, with supervised brushing.
Method in one line: Lewisburg’s status comes from the documented 2008 end of fluoridation, corroborated two ways — the utility’s own 2025 report carries no fluoride row, and EWG lists fluoride as not detected — so no level is published. We never name, rank, or recommend private dental practices.