Question:
Canadians' growing penchant for bottled water may help explain what some dentists are calling a steep jump in the rate of cavities among childrenany information?

Answer: As families increasingly opt for spring water, most of which contains only trace amounts of naturally occurring fluoride, they are avoiding tap water that in many cities is supplemented with the decay-fighting chemical.

"It's not just drinking the bottled water. It's the parents thinking the tap water is no good, whereas, in fact, there is fluoride in it," said Franklin Pulver, a pediatric dentist in Toronto.

"If they don't get it through prepared food and what-not, the kids are missing out on the fluoride."

Other experts suggest the reasons have more to do with lifestyle and diet: Parents too busy to instill good dental hygiene, immigrants from developing countries not versed in cavity prevention and a sense that drinking fluoridated water is all that is necessary.

"I have so much decay, I can't keep up with it," Dr. Pulver said.

Problems are particularly pronounced among certain pockets of low-income children, with Montreal and Winnipeg, for instance, facing near-crisis levels of young people who need so much work they must be put under general anesthetic.