Even flossing wouldn’t have helped

From Bozeman, Mont., at the 61st annual meeting of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology

Small particles trapped in minuscule cracks or pits in the fossilized teeth of

some plant-eating dinosaurs could give scientists a way to identify what types of

greenery the ancient herbivores munched.

Many types of plants produce phytoliths–literally, plant stones–in their stems and

leaves by converting the silica dissolved in groundwater into a crystalline form

similar to opals.