I've always found it to be a contradiction in a way with the flouride in the water as Dh and his family grew up on tank water and have great teeth, and our children only have tank water too and as eyt have not dental issues. Naturally it is better to have access to flouridised water but it makes you wonder if some people are just more pre-disposed to tooth decay too - without all the additional food and drink we eat contributing to it.

Anyway, I think it is a terrible state of affairs and when I worked as a dental nurse before I was married we saw a lot of kids come through with terrible teeth, but often their biggest issue was not brushing their teeth at all either. It is so hard these days to know what is the wrong and right thing to give our children - people assume juice is better than soft drink, but unless it is 100% juice with no added sugar etc, then it can have as much sugar as soft drink, and all those LCM bars and other snack foods are all so sweet too - they might be advertised as being healthy for our kids but you only have to taste one to know they aren't.

I think that moderation is the key to any eating plan and parents have to become more vigilant in the bathroom making sure that their children are brushing their teeth properly too.