What causes blocked Salivary Glands? How is tumor ruled out?-Dr. Prakash Mahadevappa
There are three paired major salivary glands. One is the parotid glands in front of the ear. The submandibular gland s below the jaw, the sublingual gland is below the tongue. All these glands produce saliva, which pours into the oral cavity, mixes with the food, enables the food to be masticated and digested. These glands secrete the saliva into the mouth through ducts called as salivary ducts. Now one of the commonest causes for the salivary blocks are stones in the salivary ducts. When the exit gets blocked, the salivary secretions back up into the gland and causes salivary gland swelling This typically happens when the patient eats an gives rise to severe pain in the area of the obstructed or the blocked salivary gland These stones are formed de novo and is because of build-up of this crystallised saliva. These ducts when they get blocked, give rise to this salivary secretion, subsequently get infected and give rise to sialadenitis or infection of the salivary glands. These are surgical conditions which needs surgical treatment to relieve them of the blocks. As far as the malignancy is concerned, apart from a good clinical examination , which may throw some suspicion about the swelling in the region of the salivary glands, we further proceed with what we call as a CT scan or an MRI evaluation of the head and neck region and whenever required, an image guided fine needle aspiration cytology, that is tissue for examination under microscope, which will tell us whether it is malignant or not.
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