If you have dental tori that cause pain or hinder speech or chewing function, you'll need oral surgery to remove them.
Treatment Options
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 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.
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.
The traditional method of tori removal is surgery—involving anesthesia—to have the tori cut out. But newer laser technologies can reduce pain and the need for anesthesia. At Smiles By Hanna, we use WaterLase technology for pain-free tori removal.
In the case that the tori is considerably large, the patient is encouraged to consider undergoing surgery to remove the growth. For individuals who wear dentures, tori may obstruct the plates from resting comfortably and evenly along the gumline.
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.
This condition normally doesn't cause serious damage, but it can cause discomfort. If left untreated, it can cause pain or interfere with the normal functioning of the mouth. The size of the tori can increase slowly and continuously through the life of an individual.
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.
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.
There can be several factors associated with mandibular tori. Starting with genetics, this condition is more common in men than in women and can be passed down from father to son. Stress in the jaw bone and bruxism are other factors.
Food particles may become lodged in the tori, causing discomfort or bad breath.
On the day of the tori removal procedure, you will be given anesthesia to ensure that you are comfortable and pain-free throughout the procedure. The procedure itself typically takes around one hour, and you can go home the same day.
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 may also be removed to aid in minimizing food impaction under the excess bone, which will promote improved home care. In certain cases tori may contribute to plaque accumulation and periodontal pockets, and therefore will require removal to improve oral hygiene by allowing better angulation of the toothbrush.
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.
Although they are extra growths, tori are not cancerous. Signs of oral cancer include sores, thickening oral tissues, unexplained bleeding or numbness, trouble swallowing, and a change in how your dentures fit. If you have any concerns about oral cancer , you should see us today for an oral cancer screening.
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.
Most swelling can occur in the morning and up to 3 days after surgery. Avoid sleeping / laying on the side that surgery was performed. Two days after surgery, moist heat will help resolve minor swelling. Major swelling should be reported to the doctor at once.
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.
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.
Over time, it may lead to the formation of an oral ulcer. This, in turn, means the delicate soft tissues surrounding the hard bony lump on the gums may become infected. All of this means that it requires surgical removal.
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.
We have found that tori can be very tender when pushed on as the skin is often stretched very thin over the bone here, and there are many nerves.