salivary gland disorders

lecture given 6/4/2026

what past/present history is important for oral diagnosis of salivary gland disorders?

history of surgery, radiotherapy, systemic problems, medications

what parts of clinical examination are important for oral diagnosis of salivary gland disorders?

clinical measures to diagnose the hypofunction in the salivary gland- dryness of the lips and buccal mucosa, absence of saliva produced by the gland, bimanual palpation, and DMFT scores

what diagnostic approaches may be applied for oral diagnosis of salivary gland disorders?

imaging of salivary glands plain film, sialography, ultrasound (US), MRI, MDCT/PET, sialochemistry, biopsy, culture

developmental salivary gland disorders

aplasia, atresia, aberrancy

functional salivary gland disorders

xerostomia, sialorrhea (ptyalism)

inflammatory-infectious salivary gland disorders

acute and chronic bacterial infection (sialadentitis)

viral infection: mumps, HIV associated salivary gland disorder

post irradiation sialadentitis, chronic sclerosing sialadenitis, cheilitis glandularis

traumatic/ obstructive salivary gland disorders

mucocele, salivary duct cyst (mucus retention cyst, ranula) nicotinic stomatitis, sialolithiasis (small stones block exit)

autoimmune salivary gland disorders

sarcoidosis, sjogren’s syndrome, mikulicz’s dusease

neurological salivary gland disorders

frey’s syndrome

degenerative salivary gland disorders

idiopathic sialolithiasis

non-inflammatory non-neoplastic salivary gland disorders

sialoadenosis

vascular salivary gland disorders

necrotizing sialometaplasia

benign neoplastic salivary gland disorders

papillary cystadenoma, lymphomatosum, pleomorphic adenoma, basal cell adenomas, oncocytoma, canalicular adenoma, myoepithelioma, sebaceous adenoma, ductal papilloma

malignant neoplastic salivary gland disorders

adenoid cystic carcinoma, hyalinising clear cell carcinoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma, acinic cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, carcinoma

*what are the signs and symptoms of sialolithiasis?

painful lump under the tongue

pain that increases when eating

what are the signs and symptoms of sialadenitis?

lump in your cheek or under your chin

pus that drains into your mouth

strong or foul smelling pus

fever

what are the signs and symptoms of cysts that grow in your salivary glands?

yellow mucus that drains when the cyst bursts

difficulty eating

difficulty speaking

difficulty swallowing

*what are the signs and symptoms of viral infections like mumps?

fever

muscle aches

joint pain

swelling on both sides of the face (@parotid glands)

headache

*what are the signs and symptoms of sjogren’s syndrome

dry mouth

dry eyes

tooth decay

sores in the mouth

joint pain or swelling

dry cough

unexplained fatigue

swollen salivary glands

frequent salivary gland infections

*sialolithiasis

calcified obstruction within the salivary duct, submandibular gland and Wharton’s duct 83% of cases

obstruct secretory duct → decrease in salivary flow → chronic retrograde infections

intermittent swelling and pain with eating and signs of infection

sialolithiasis

sialolithiasis

sialolithiasis

sialolithiasis

what is this, and what is the yellow arrow pointing at?

sialolithiasis

dilated proximal duct