TORONTO, Canada: Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, have identified the oldest dental cavities ever found in a mammal.
Keegan R. Selig and Mary T. Silcox, the authors of the research, discovered the cavities in the fossils of Microsyops latidens, a small pointy snouted animal. It remained on Earth for about 500,000 years before extinction around 54 million years ago.
Cavities form when bacteria in the mouth turn foods containing carbohydrates into acids. These acids erode tooth enamel, dentin and eventually, the decay slowly develops into tiny holes.
The researchers looked at the fossilized teeth of a thousand M. latidens under a microscope and were able to identify cavities in more than seventy of them. To verify the results, they also did micro-CT scans on some of the fossils. The study made the likely culprit of the cavities the animal’s fruit-rich diet.
The research “The largest and earliest known sample of dental caries in an extinct mammal (Mammalia, Euarchonta, Microsyops latidens) and its ecological implications” has recently been published online in the journal Scientific Reports.