Frequency of oral tori among dental patients attending three military hospitals in Jordan

Abstract EN

Objective : the aim of this study was to assess the frequency of torus palatines and torus mandibular is in patients attending three military hospitals in Jordan during a two years period (2000-2002).

Methods : during the study period, 1000 patients who attended prosthetic clinics at the three military hospitals (King Hussein Medical Center, Prince Hashem Ben Al-Hussein Hospital - Zarqa and Queen Alia Hospital- Amman) were examined clinically for the presence of oral tori (torus palatinus, torus mandibularis).

The size, shape and location of the tori were recorded.

Results : among the study group, 484 (48.4 %) were males and 516 (51.6 %) were females, their age ranged from 7-80 years.

The frequency of torus palatinus was 31 (3.1 %), torus mandibularis was 23 (2.3 %) and both tori were only found in five (0.5 %) subjects.

The male : female ratio of torus palatinus and torus mandibularis were 1 : 2 and 1 : 09 respectively.

The smooth type for both torus palatinus and torus mandibularis were found in 44 (81.5 %) subjects.

Regarding the size and location of oral tori, 23 (42.6 %) were smaller than two cm and 35.2 % were located in the molar area.

Conclusion : the data of this study revealed that the frequency of torus palatinus was greater in females than in males whereas the same frequency were found in females and males for torus mandibularis.

Although a substantial number of investigations have been conducted in patients from various origins, global information about tori is incomplete.