Prevalence of mandibular and palatine tori among the Ibos in Enugu, South‑East Nigeria

Abstract

Context: Torus mandibularis (TM) and torus palatinus (TP) are believed to occur commonly among black Africans. There is a dearth of literature on Nigerians. The few reported studies were done in the South‑West Nigeria. This is the first report of the prevalence of tori among the Ibo‑speaking ethnic group in the South‑East Nigeria.

Settings and Design: This is a prospective cross‑sectional study of 3000 subjects of Ibo ethnic extraction attending a dental clinic in Enugu, South‑East Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: Three thousand subjects were examined for the isolated and concurrent occurrence of TM and TP. The subjects were seen over a 4‑year period. The age, sex, ethnic group, type of tori based on location, and symptomatic awareness of tori presence were documented.

Statistical Analysis Used: The data were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. The level of significance was P < 0.05. The Chi‑square test showed no statistically significant difference between gender and type of tori (P = 0.34). Similarly, there was no statistically significant difference between the age groups and type of tori (P = 0.38).

Results: Two hundred and ninety‑two subjects were clinically diagnosed with tori, of which females constituted 88%, and males constituted 12%. Isolated TM occurred in 56.8% (166 of 292) subjects, isolated TP in 17.5% (51 of 292) subjects, and concurrent tori (TM and TP) in 25.7% (75 of 292) subjects. The peak occurrence was in the fifth decade. The overall prevalence was 9.7%. The prevalences of TM (isolated and concurrent) and TP (isolated and concurrent) were 8.0% and 4.2%, respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence values are within the range of values reported in other Nigerian studies but differ widely with values from other ethnic groups from other countries.

Keywords: Ibo, Nigerian, prevalence, tori