As a parent keeping your kids healthy is your most important duty.
So it might be hard to believe that one in three four-year-olds have visible tooth decay.
Even more surprising, one of the reasons could be the amount of fluoride they are exposed to.
Since Caitlin Schwing was three, her mother Cammye has taken steps to make sure her smile stays bright and healthy.
"I try to watch how many sticky foods they have," said Cammye Schwing.
But without realizing it, she's also helping by buying water without extra fluoride.
That's right, without extra fluoride.
"The fluoridated water provides the extra fluoride, I've just always bought it without, the Ozarka or whatever," said Schwing.
Several studies have shown, many parents prefer to give their kids bottled water versus tap.
"Most of the time bottled water," said Amber Snider.
But some experts said that's not a good idea because of the high amount of added fluoride.
Most 20 ounce bottles of water have about three parts per million of fluoride.
But you wouldn't know that because the Food and Drug Administration doesn't require it to be on the label unless its added during processing.
"No, I've never heard of that,"said Schwing.
"That's never been an issue, iv never even thought of that," said Snider.
Waco Pediatric Dentist Susan Francis said although bottled water might play a role in kids getting too much fluoride, it's not the only factor.
"Bottled drinks, sodas, juices things like that, depending on where they're bottled they may have fluoride and varying levels," said Dr. Francis.
She said kids can also have a tendency to overuse toothpaste and drink mouthwash.
"In any case if your getting excessive amounts of fluoride you can have something called fluorosis which the teeth can get a molded appearance with white or brown spots and such," said Dr. Francis.
So how do you prevent this from happening to your kids?
Try to keep liquids, other than water, out of you their hands at night.
And instead bottled water, just go for tap water.
"Whatever is on the teeth at nights just sitting there," said Dr. Francis.
Especially for the younger kids, make sure they don't overuse toothpaste or mouthwash, and remember to rinse.
"I watched my grandmother lose her teeth and those are the only teeth we have so we need to take care of them," said Schwing.
Something she's teaching her daughter early on.
