Salivary Cyst

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Salivary cyst

A pathological condition such as cysts of the salivary glands is often encountered by dental surgeons in oral and maxillofacial surgery. The mouth contains many salivary glands that produce saliva. With the help of this secret, food lumps are formed, and the primary digestion of food occurs.

Large clusters of glandular tissue form large glands in the ear (parotid), under the tongue (sublingual), and under the mandible (mandibular). There are also the so-called small salivary glands located under the mucous membrane of the cheeks (buccal), lips (labial) and palate (palatine). As a result of various injuries of the mucous membrane, a violation of the excretion of salivary secretion occurs. This entails the accumulation of saliva in the duct, stretching it, and the formation of a cyst. A cyst can form in the salivary gland due to infection or salivary calculus.

The cyst of the small salivary gland is a transparent, slightly bluish, painless, soft to the touch, rounded formation. Its size can reach 5 cm in diameter. In advanced stages, the tumor becomes dense, takes on a whitish color and looks like a fibroid. Cysts of the salivary glands are divided into several types:

• true cyst;
• post-traumatic;

On the small salivary glands, the cyst is often formed, in the large salivary glands this phenomenon is less common. The place of their localization can be the mucous membrane of the lips or cheeks, sometimes the soft palate.

The cyst of the parotid salivary gland deserves special attention, as it is the largest of the salivary glands. Although this pathology is rare enough, it causes a lot of trouble. It can become very inflamed and, as it grows in size, significantly change the shape of a person's face. With some disorders during the embryonic development of the fetus, some children may have a congenital cyst of the salivary parotid gland. A protruding, soft, small tubercle that prevents the child from eating.

On the parotid salivary gland, the cyst is found to be an uncomfortable sensation. Elastic formation with clear boundaries, does not connect to the skin, rather mobile, with liquid content, painless. Pain appears when an abscess develops and due to inflammation of the cyst. This leads to swelling in the parotid region, redness of the skin and restriction when opening the mouth.

The sublingual salivary gland is similar to a fluid-filled bladder. Maybe, increasing in size, move the frenum of the tongue to the side and prevent food intake, it prevents a person from speaking.

The cyst of the submandibular salivary gland is slow growing and difficult to diagnose. When probing, an elastic rounded formation is determined, inside it is a yellowish liquid of a viscous consistency. The function of salivation by this gland is not disturbed. With proper treatment, recovery occurs quickly, no relapses are observed.

Salivary gland cyst treatment

A cyst can be identified using ultrasound and laboratory studies of its contents, for this, a puncture is performed. Cystographic analysis will allow you to see the topography of the formation, its size. Sialography accurately determines whether a tumor is benign or malignant. Treatment of a cyst of the salivary gland is only operational.

If the cyst is located in the parotid region, then it is removed together with its membranes, and sections of adjacent tissues are excised. If a formation is found in the submandibular gland, it is necessary to remove the gland itself.

Due to their specific anatomical location, complications of operations on the salivary glands can be damage to the facial nerve, since its branches are located close to the gland, this can cause paralysis of facial muscles, as well as a change in the shape of the face.

An operation such as cytotomy is performed when the formation becomes large. Treatment of the salivary gland cyst is very gentle, the removal of the secretion is an insufficient procedure, this often leads to a relapse, so the cyst is exfoliated, the wound is sutured. The manipulation is carried out under local anesthesia, hospitalization is not required.

The bacterial infections that caused the appearance of the cyst are eliminated with a course of antibiotic therapy. For preventive purposes, in order to avoid the development of this disease of the salivary glands, it is necessary to adhere to a healthy lifestyle.

Pay attention to personal hygiene, nutrition, it must be balanced. It is recommended to give up the bad habit - smoking. It is known from statistical studies that it is smokers who most often suffer from this pathology. Each person's concern for their health will ward off any disease.

The author of the article: Lazarev Oleg Vladimirovich | ENT

Education: In 2009, he received a diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" at the Petrozavodsk State University. After completing an internship at the Murmansk Regional Clinical Hospital, he received a diploma in Otorhinolaryngology (2010)