Prevalence and clinical characteristics of oral tori in 1,520 Chulalongkorn University Dental School patients

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence, size, shape and location of the oral tori in 1,520 Thai dental patients and to investigate the relationship between the findings with age and gender. The prevalence rates were 60.5% for torus palatinus (TP) and 32.2% for torus mandibularis (TM). The concurrence of TP and TM was noted in 23.2% subjects. The peak incidence of TP and TM was in the third decade of life. TP affected more women than men (70.5 vs. 48.8%, P < 0.001). Most TP were found in spindle shape (56%), small size (52.1%) and located at premolar region (47.4%). The occurrence of TM was higher in men than in women (36.3 vs. 28.6%, P = 0.002). TM was found most common in small size (65.6%), as bilateral multiple nodes (59.3%) and usually located at the premolars (89.2%). The age and gender-related differences with the size of tori were noted. Subjects who had larger TP or TM were older than those who had smaller TP or TM (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). Women were more likely to have larger TP whereas men tended to have larger TM. This study showed high prevalence rates of TP and TM in dental patients and the occurrences were related to gender.