Processed snack foods and bottled water may be giving preschoolers rotten teeth

According to the latest figures from the National Center for Health Statistics as many as 28 percent of U.S. children ages 2 to 5 had a cavity in at least one baby tooth between 1999 and 2004.

This is compared to a 24 percent rate from 1988 to 1994 and the health body says sugary foods and drinks and non fluoridated bottled water may be the culprits.

The National Center for Health Statistics which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says it has found that tooth decay is rising in preschool children in America while fewer older children and adults had tooth decay.

Dr. Bruce Dye, a dentist and epidemiologist with the center, says there are a number of possible factors, such as parents giving young children more processed snack foods with high sugar content, more sugary juices and sodas and more bottled water, much of which is not treated with fluoride.

The majority of experts believe the fluoridation of public water supplies in the middle of the 20th century has cut down the tooth decay.

Dye says however that despite the expansion of water fluoridation programs in the U.S. there has also been a tremendous growth in the consumption of bottled water, the majority of which is not fluoridated.

The survey also found that 21 percent of children aged 6 to 11 had tooth decay during the 1999-2004 survey period, down from 25 percent a decade earlier, and among those aged 12 to 19, the rate fell to 59 percent from 68 percent.

The figures for gum disease rates also improved, falling to 17 percent from 27 percent among people 65 and older, with only 5 percent of people aged 20 to 64 with gum disease, compared to 10 percent a decade earlier.

The report also says the percentage of people 65 and older with complete tooth loss fell to 27 percent from 34 percent, while the percentage of adults who said they'd been to a dentist in the previous year dropped to 60 percent, from 66 percent.

The results were presented at a meeting this week of the American Association for Public Health Dentistry in Denver.