The EPA limits the amount of fluoride in drinking water to 4 parts per million (ppm) -- but that's four times what the American Dental Association claims is needed to fight cavities (0.7-1.2 ppm). As a result, some regions far exceed the existing EPA standard.

In those areas, as many as 10 percent of children younger than age 8 are afflicted with severe cases of dental fluorosis. Infants and young children are especially fragile, for the same reason the mercury contained in vaccines harms them: Low body weight.

States that expose Americans to more fluoride than they should: Texas, Virginia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Indiana, Colorado and New Mexico.

Even if you don't live in one of those states, kids are being exposed to harmful fluoride from seemingly unlikely sources. The health-harming culprits should sound very familiar to you: 100-percent fruit juice and infant formula.

Tooth problems aren't the only health connections to fluoride, as it has been also linked to cancer, low IQs, genetic disorders and muscle degeneration.

If you're at all skeptical about the harm fluoridation can do, consider this: Eleven employee unions connected to the EPA have argued for a moratorium on such programs and have asked the federal agency to recognize its cancer-causing risks.

These are serious issues and one of the reasons you don't want to regularly drink tap water -- nearly all commercial tap water in the United States is fluoridated. So you will want to make certain that your regular source of drinking water is clean and pure.

Be careful about using bottled water regularly, though. Unless you are using the five-gallon recyclable jugs, the small water bottles are an enormous environmental strain, and they are best avoided except for occasional use.

I cringe every time I use one of them, as I hate to see the burden that the plastic puts on the environment. If you purify your water at home you can bring it to work with you in a glass or "safe" plastic container.

Getting back to the fluoride issue though, if you wish to make your feelings known about fluoridation, I urge you to visit the Fluoride Action Network's Web site, sign their online petition and send a letter to your Congressman, or you can review the excellent book, the Fluoride Deception.