Question:
Most people choose bottled spring water for its purity and taste.

But that clear plastic container with the cool, bubbly scenes on the front can have a little-known downside inside: no fluoride, the chemical credited with causing a dramatic drop in cavities in the United States over the last half-century, especially among children.

Who knew?

Answer: As sales of nonfluoridated bottled water continue to climb, more dentists are urging parents and patients to seek out the few brands that have added fluoride. That goes for those who either don't have fluoride in their tap water or who - like Shayna Brunswick, 15, of West Philadelphia - simply prefer bottled.

Shayna, who hates the taste of Philadelphia water, recently learned she needed five root canal operations.

Shayna needs all the cavity-fighting help she can get, given her weakness for "all the gooey, chewy stuff that gets stuck in her teeth," her mother, Robbin, said. And Shayna just wasn't getting it from a bottle.

That's no surprise to experts. Bottled water can be good, "but people have to realize they're not getting fluoride in it," said Rochelle Lindemeyer, director of the University of Pennsylvania's pediatric dental residency program.