When Cavities Began

Per an article by Keegan Selig and M. T. Silcox in the open-access journal Scientific Reports, it appears monkeylike mammals suffered cavities tens of millions of years ago. Selig and Silcox showed a fossilized jaw of a critter called Microsyops latidens with clear oval depressions indicating cavities. This, they say, is the earliest recorded evidence of cavities in a mammalian species.