While there is a hereditary component to tori, this does not explain all cases. Tori tend to appear more frequently during middle age of life; the torus palatinus is more commonly observed in females, but this is not the case with the torus mandibularis. Certain ethnic groups are more prone to one torus or the other. The torus is mainly removed due to prostodontic reasons, as it may also be used as biomaterial, not only in periodontology, but also in implantology. The aim of this study was a review of the literature from the past twenty years.