It was always impressed on me that I should clean my teeth regularly to make sure that all the sugar I consumed didn't "rot my teeth".

Perhaps because of this advice, I am lucky enough to have had only one filling and a pretty decent set of gnashers.

Tooth decay is not a new problem.

The carbohydrate rich diet adopted by humans once they began practising agriculture developed a breeding ground for the bacteria responsible for decay.

Since the introduction of more processed foods, especially refined starches and sugars, tooth decay has become even more prevalent.

Fluoride from water is taken up by the body and used to help build teeth.

With fluoride present in the teeth, bacteria in plaque are inhibited by its toxic effect and slow the progress of tooth decay.

In many areas, fluoride occurs naturally and this has been shown to be beneficial to dental health.

In the past 50 years, water authorities in many parts of the world and especially in the United States have added fluoride to drinking water to help improve dental health.

So far in this country, relatively few areas have added fluoride to water supplies but the government has been intermittently debating whether to change this position.

Under regulations introduced in 2003 reported through this column at the time, water authorities could be forced to put fluoride in water supplies if requested to do so by strategic health authorities.

Interestingly, I could find no record of this happening anywhere in the UK since this legislation was introduced. This may be because introducing such a policy will inevitably cause controversy.

Some countries have stopped adding fluoride to drinking water and found no noticeable differences in dental health.

So he debate seems set to run and run.

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