The size of the tori can increase slowly and continuously through the life of an individual. If the tori has to be removed, surgery can be done to reduce the bone, but it may grow back again in cases where there is local stress, such as excessive forces from an unbalanced bite.
Tori are simply an abnormality; a random bone growth. They do not pose any immediate threat or harm once they have been identified in the mouth, though they do continue to grow over time, and have the potential to cause pain or discomfort if they become too large.
Mandibular tori are very slow-growing, so much so that it can be challenging to identify what causes tori to grow. There is some evidence that bruxism can speed up the growth of tori. Diet may play a role in the growth cycle. Some tori also grow for a period of time, shrink, and then begin to grow again.
Tori typically develop during late adolescence and gradually increase in size throughout adulthood. When small, they rarely cause symptoms or pain and are usually an incidental finding during routine clinical or dental examinations.
No, mandibular tori don't shrink over time. If you have dental tori that cause pain or hinder speech or chewing function, you'll need oral surgery to remove them.
Torus mandibularis is thought to be caused mainly by environmental factors, such as bruxism, vitamin deficiencies and calcium-rich supplements, although genetic background also plays a key role.
In most cases tori are benign and do not require treatment. However, tori will need to be surgically removed to accommodate upper or lower dentures and upper or lower partial dentures (flippers). Tori may also be removed to aid in minimizing food impaction under the excess bone, which will promote improved home care.
Although the surgery is not necessarily more uncomfortable than a wisdom tooth extraction, the oral surgeon may need to use chisels and mallets to loosen the bone to remove it. Most patients are understandably uncomfortable with the image and feelings of this and prefer sedation.
Mandibular tori do not usually cause problems to the point that they require a treatment plan. However, some people find that their tori trap food and make it difficult to keep their mouth clean. When this happens, you might develop painful inflammation around the growths.
The size of the tori may fluctuate throughout life but they do tend to get bigger over time. In some cases the tori can be large enough to touch each other in the midline of mouth.
After tori removal, regrowth of the extra bone is very rare. In most cases, you will only need one surgery to remove the extra bone. There are cases where bone growth will recur, but these are rare, and are usually linked to genetic diseases that will require medical attention.
Similar to enlarged tonsils or adenoids, a large tongue, or an enlarged uvula, large mandibular tori can contribute to breathing obstructions, making one more susceptible to snoring and sleep apnea.
Stress in the jaw bone and bruxism are other factors. This condition is more common in early adult life, and consequently, it is believed that mandibular tori are the result of local stresses and not solely on genetic influences. The genetic influence can best be seen in studies of twins.
The prevalence of tori varies in different populations from 0.0% to 66% for TP and between 0.1% and 63.4% for TM. The exact etiology is still unclear, but the most accepted theory today is 30% attributed to genetics and 70% to environmental factors.
Tori, or mandibular tori to give it its full name, are small growths of bone that tend to grow on the tongue side of our gums where teeth grinding is present. They are harmless but do indicate that the patient may be grinding their teeth.
When the torus is large, it is subject to irritation and ulceration from repeated trauma. Once injured, these growths can be slow to heal because of the limited number of blood vessels on their thin tissue surface. They can also become infected and very painful, making it difficult to eat and drink.
The growths can appear as single or multiple nodules in a range of shapes: regular or irregular, flat, spindle-shaped, or nodular. Inside your mouth, mandibular tori emerge on the backside of your lower gums – with the bony growths developing on either or both sides.
Some areas receive greater pressure than normal. Also, when your bite is off, your body tries to unconsciously realign it properly. The constant stress and tension cause the growth of additional bone material as a way to protect the teeth against the excess pressure.
Exostoses are benign protuberances of bone that may arise on the cortical surface of the jaws (eFigure 2-16). A torus (plural: tori) is an exostosis that occurs in one of two locations intraorally.
Mandibular tori removal eliminates tori in the gums.
D7473 is the code that reads removal of Torus Mandibularis.
Discomfort: Slight swelling of the operated area is not unusual. Chapped lips or bruising of the lips / cheek area may occur. A reusable ice bag or a frozen vegetable bag, wrapped in a soft towel, may be applied to the area of surgery to help minimize the swelling of your face.
Especially large tori can get in the way of proper eating. Chips, crusty bread, and other crunchy foods present real difficulty. Food particles may become lodged in the tori, causing discomfort or bad breath.
Oral tori mostly occurs in individuals with parafunctional habits like teeth clenching or bruxism. People with bruxism may have temporomandibular joint disorders or severe headaches due to the grinding of teeth. Most patients with tori have parafunctional habits and also suffer from migraine according to the research.
The average age for a torus to develop is between 30-40 years old3 although upper jaw tori have been discovered as early as the first decade in life4.