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Is torus palatinus a feature of a well‐developed maxilla?
Author(s) -
Çagirankaya Leyla Berna,
Kansu Özden,
Hatipoglu Müjgan Güngör
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
clinical anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1098-2353
pISSN - 0897-3806
DOI - 10.1002/ca.20032
Subject(s) - medicine , maxilla , agenesis , exostosis , molar , dentistry , orthodontics , anatomy
Torus palatinus (TP) is an exostosis of the hard palate. The biologic significance of TP is unknown. Our hypothesis was that the presence of a TP reflects the development of the maxilla. It has been proven that tooth agenesis is associated with small maxillary size. We investigated whether there is a relationship between maxillary third molar agenesis and the presence or absence of TP. The study was carried out on 253 Turkish patients. It showed a lower prevalence of third molar agenesis in female subjects with TP ( P < 0.001). This study provides indirect evidence that development of the maxilla may be greater in female subjects with TP. Clin. Anat. 17:623–625, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.