USA - Brevard dentists blame increase in decay on unfluoridated drink

..........................Dr. F. Joseph Dermody Jr., a pediatric dentist in Vero Beach, said he tries to keep children in his practice on "fluoride at least until the last tooth comes in" about age 12 or 13, advocating they drink at least 12 to 16 ounces of fluoridated water daily.
From age 2 to the early teen years, he said, "fluoride has to be swallowed, so it gets into the matrix of each tooth," to strengthen it.
But, once past this age, topical fluoride, such as toothpaste and mouth rinse, "generally provides adequate protection against decay."
As to bottled water's role in this process, he said, he agrees with the pediatric dental group that other factors may play a role, particularly given so many children's high consumption of sugary food and drinks.
"We never had flavored sports waters growing up," Dermody said. "The flavoring they add is all sugar."
Jane Lazgin, a spokeswoman for Connecticut-based Nestle Waters, North America, the largest bottled water company in the United States, also cited the "500 calories children get each day from liquid beverages, many of them from juice or milk, perhaps," she said, "but others from sugary drinks."
She said Nestle came out with an 8-ounce "school-lunch-sized" fluoridated water last year that meets the government's regulatory standards at 0.9 parts per million -- one of several manufacturers to do so -- with a childproof twist cap.
But the company also offers the same product without fluoride, because of the continuing "controversy over whether fluoride is beneficial or not," she said. "We leave that up to parents to decide."

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