If parafunctional activity is involved in the aetiology of both oral tori and TMD, then the patients with TMD may have a higher prevalence of oral tori compared with patients without these disorders. If the association exists, the presence of tori may suggest the examination for TMD.
TMJ and Your Teeth
The overall relationship between the teeth, muscles, and joints can be altered. The heavy forces on the teeth have been associated with the presence of mandibular tori (bony bumps under the tongue) in TMJ patients. Pulpitis, inflammation of the dental pulp, is another symptom that may result.
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. Clinical diagnosis is usually straightforward, and investigations are generally not required.
Mandibular tori can be a painful condition that causes your throat and jaw to hurt, your gums to get inflamed, and even your teeth to come loose.
Many people who discover they have mandibular tori may mistake it for oral cancer. There is good news here. Cancerous growths tend to be softer when palpated and most often occur in the soft tissues of the mouth.
You probably won't need treatment for mandibular tori unless they cause pain or interfere with function or quality of life.
Consumption of excessive fish has been related to the presence of tori; it was hypothesized that this may be connected to the nutrients present in salt water fish, probably omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin D (7, 9).
When this happens, you might develop painful inflammation around the growths. Because mandibular tori are bone growths, you cannot get rid of them without surgical treatment from your dentist.
Torus mandibularis is a structure that can appear on the inside of the mandible. Therefore, it is possible for tori to influence airway volume by occupying the space for tongue and cause sleep apnoea.
Mechanical stress in the jaw may concentrate in the areas where tori form in the mouth (including the lower mouth and jaw) and relate to their development and growth. Mental stress and malocclusion (teeth misalignment) can contribute to tension in the jaw and thus increase the risk of mandibular torus.
Though the surgery itself won't be painful, tori removal can be a bit uncomfortable. Another method of tori removal is done via lasers. Though not appropriate in all cases, this method provides excellent accuracy and less palate trauma than traditional tori surgery.
The prevalence of mandibular tori ranges from 5-40%. They are less common than bony growths occurring on the palate, known as torus palatinus. Mandibular tori are more common in Asian and Inuit populations. They are slightly more common in males.
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.
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.
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.
There are many reasons behind tori development. Genetics, tooth grinding and bite issues can result in local stress, which can lead to the development of these bony growths. In most cases, tori have a silent, unnoticed growth.
Do tori ever shrink? Unfortunately, tori do not shrink over time. They will grow to a certain point, and then stop growing. A surgical team will need to remove them if your dentist deems it necessary.
Tori may also get in the way of helpful dental devices like braces, dentures and retainers. Torus mandibularis removal can happen in one of two ways: Traditional Surgery: You're given general anesthesia. The oral surgeon then digs out bothersome tori in the gums with a sharp tool.
Eating and chewing: Food may get stuck on the growth or make it difficult to swallow. Oral hygiene: Sometimes, the growth may make it difficult to brush the teeth effectively. When food gets stuck on the growth, it can cause oral health issues such as bad breath and tooth decay.
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.
Mandibular tori removal recovery
In general, though, follow these guidelines for a quick and comfortable recovery. Laser tori removal sees an average full recovery time of about two weeks. Traditional surgical removal recovery may take a month or more.
Tori (singular: torus) are benign, non-odontogenic lesions of the mandible or the hard palate which consist mainly of compact bone (1) and are usually detected incidentally.
If the tori are found on your lower jaw, they are considered to be mandibular tori. Most tori grow to a certain point and stop growing. Most growth stops after our jaws have developed in our late teenage years. Tori, as mentioned, are benign in nature.
It occurs just near the floor of your mouth on the tongue-side surfaces of your mandible (lower jaw bone.) Depending on what literature you read, mandibular tori occur in 5-10% of the population (but some studies show it as high as 40%). These bony overgrowths tend to be more common the older you get.
The prevalence of mandibular tori in the population can range from 5%-40% and is less common than tori on the palate. Tori has been shown to be more common in Asian, Native American, and Inuit populations.