Investigation of elongated styloid process prevalence in patients with torus palatinus

The aim of the current study was to determine the presence of styloid process elongation (SPE) detected on panoramic radiographs in patients with torus palatinus (TP). Between December 2005 and November 2007, a total of 149 patients with TP are investigated for routine dental examination in the outpatient clinic. Any patient who had disorders related to calcium and phosphorus metabolism was excluded. All medical data were obtained from the files. Twenty (15%) subjects demonstrated SPE at least one side. These patients consisted of 15 women (14.3% of all women) and five men (17.8% of all men). In our previous report performed in normal population at the same region, the prevalence had been found to be 7.7% in 698 dental patients. Although the number of the patients is different in both studies, there is a marked difference in terms of the SPE prevalence between the two reports. This prevalence difference might be related to concomitant disorder.