Objective:

to describe the characteristics of Brazilian sanitation utilities and municipalities according to the water supply system fluoridation situation.

Methods:

this was an ecological study using data from the National Survey of Basic Sanitation 2008, the Demographic Census 2010 and the Atlas of Human Development 2010.

Results:

of the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities, 60% had a fluoridation service; there was variation in fluoridation provision depending on the characteristics of the service providers and the municipality; the greater the coverage of water supply and sewerage and the higher the level of human development, the greater the provision of fluoridation (p<0.001); fluoridation provision was higher in municipalities where the sanitation utilities were mixed-capital companies (75%) and lower when the companies were private (27%) and also when the service was provided only by the municipal government (40%).

Conclusion:

there was an important dependence relationship between the characteristics of the companies and the provision of water fluoridation in Brazilian municipalities.

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