The ‘torus palatinus’: a common but relatively unknown entity

Abstract

A 60-year-old woman was referred for imaging evaluation of a lump at the midline of the hard palate. The lump was painless but felt hard and lobulated on palpation.Ulcerations were not apparent. It had appeared gradually over time. An open mouth spiral head CT study before and after intravenous contrast injection was performed, with bone reconstructions of the facial skeleton. It revealed a flat based bony thickening at the cleft of the hard palate with a width of 11 mm and a length of 15 mm (Fig. A,B,C). The bony protrusion was covered by a thin layer of mucosa (Fig. D). Contrast enhancement was absent. No other lesions were evident in the oral cavity. The nasal cavity and nasal septum were normal.