Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder characterized by repetitive upper airway obstruction during sleep. We aimed to investigate whether mandibular tori, exostoses that appear on the lingual surface of the lower jaw, are related to OSA and the effect of an oral appliance (OA) in OSA patients.
Methods: Six hundred snoring patients with a mean age of 52 years (range 23-75 years) and a mean respiratory disturbance index (RDI) of 15 (range 0-76), who were consecutively referred for OA treatment, were included. The size of the tori was measured on plaster casts with a digital sliding caliper.
Results: Twenty-seven percent of the patients had mandibular tori, with a similar prevalence in snorers and patients with mild, moderate and severe OSA. Tori size differed between severity groups. Thick tori (≥2.9 mm) were associated with an RDI of <30, odds ratio (OR) 4.7 (p = 0.01), adjusted for age, gender and body mass index (BMI; kg/m(2)). Complete treatment response with OA was related to thick tori, OR = 2.5 (p = 0.02), adjusted for disease severity, age, gender, BMI (kg/m(2)), weight changes (kg) and mandibular repositioning.
Conclusions: Patients with milder disease are more likely to have larger tori than patients with severe OSA. Treatment success with an OA occurs more frequently in patients with larger tori than in patients with no tori or small tori.