In-Office Management of Salivary Stones

First, Dr. Agan discusses the typical patient presentation of sialolithiasis, or salivary gland stones. Sialolithiasis patients have swelling and pain in their salivary gland when eating. Sialadenitis, or inflammation of the gland, may come first, but it is also possible for sialolithiasis to be discovered on incidental imaging. In either scenario, salivary stones are benign, and the most common gland affected is the submandibular gland. Dr. Agan usually gets CT imaging and uses ultrasound as an alternative if the patient prefers. Next, she discusses her physical examination of the gland. She uses her loupes and a headlight during bimanual palpation to find the stone in the gland. She observes saliva flow as well and assesses how comfortable a patient is with oral manipulation in order to gauge their candidacy for an in-office procedure. The ideal stone for an in-office sialolithotomy is a hard stone close to the punctum. For infected stones that elicit pus and inflammation, she sends patients home Augmentin or clindamycin for 10 days before performing the sialolithotomy.

Next, Dr. Agan discusses her in-office procedure for sialolithotomy. With the patient in supine position, she uses hurricane spray on gauze and puts the gauze on the floor of mouth before injecting local lidocaine at her incision site, which is directly on top of the stone. She uses an 11 blade and keeps holding stone while taking it out to avoid losing it in the mouth. She notes that posterior stones are not good for in-office procedures, as it is close to important landmarks, such as the lingual nerve. After she removes the stone, she uses a small volume of saline irrigation to flush out the duct. Then, if the patient is able to tolerate it, she performs a sialodochoplasty, a procedure in which she sutures to create a new formal opening from the gland to the oral cavity. She notes that this procedure may require more lidocaine injection and surgeons will have to distinguish between lumen of duct and normal oral tissue.

Finally, she covers her postoperative care regimen. She does not prescribe routine antibiotics unless there was an infection discovered during the procedure. She has no diet restrictions for her patients, but notes that acidic or sour foods may make the incision burn. She recommends Tylenol or Motrin for pain and follows up with her patients in 1-2 weeks after the procedure.