Re: dino dental hygiene

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> I know monitor lizards actually prosper from the noxious bacteria in their 
> mouths for helping to bring down their living prey -

Don't underestimate the monitors' own venom, though.

> do cold-blooded reptiles suffer from tooth decay?  Is it only a mammalian 
> problem?

I don't know what being cold-blooded could have to do with it... in any 
case, there is an ichthyosaur jaw from the Cretaceous of Australia that 
shows caries, where food seems to have got stuck between the tooth roots*, 
but this is exceptional because most vertebrates other than mammals replace 
their teeth too often for caries to develop. (I have the paper in Vienna and 
forgot the ref... I think it was in Alcheringa, maybe 5 years ago...)

* Ichthyosaurs are aulacodont, not thecodont: rather than each tooth having 
its own socket, each jaw has a single continuous socket for the entire 
toothrow, and the roots touch each other.

> What about a kronosaur in the shallows at rest letting various fishes tidy 
> their oral cavities?

Entirely possible, but probably untestable at present.