New research is revealing how had dinosaurs been able to take care of their teeth they might well have lived a great deal longer. Tyrannosaurids in particular exhibit diseased jawbones, which have been caused by touching or biting each other on the face and thereby passing on infectious diseases. There is a modern day example of this parasite that infects some birds such as raptors pigeons, and turkeys and causes ulcers that if severe mean the creature starves to death.

If this form of parasitic infection was wide spread in dinosaurs it could well have been instrumental in a mini extinction event. However it could not be responsible for the complete extinction of the dinosaurs as these sorts of infections were most likely to have been reserved to carnivorous dinosaurs. The mass extinction of the dinosaurs is still believed to have been caused by a combination of meteorite impact and massive volcanic activity.