Most everyone has heard of someone who has had a kidney stone, but did you know that there is a less common type of “stone” that occurs in the salivary glands? The salivary glands are glands in and around the mouth that make saliva, commonly called “spit”. Saliva helps us swallow or food and also helps to digest it.
Salivary stones occur at a rate of about 1 in 30,000 people so they are relatively uncommon. They are more common as we age and are very rare in children younger than 12. We don’t know why people get salivary stones, but it appears to be similar to the pearl in the oyster type of phenomenon where a small particle of debris gets into the saliva and the body tries to coat it with calcium deposits. They grow slowly and most people don’t know they have them until they become large enough to block the tube that the saliva flows in, what is termed a “duct”.
Salivary stones most common in the submandibular gland, which sits in the upper neck just under the jaw. They can also occur in the parotid gland around the ear and the sublingual gland below the tongue.
