The Tiny, Troublesome 'Stone' That Blocked Our Patient's Saliva

We had an exciting (and surprisingly mineral-rich!) day. We had a routine visit from a patient who has a history of salivary stones but was not experiencing any discomfort today. Today they were here for other regular dental procedures.

You might be thinking, stones in your mouth? Like a kidney stone, but for spit?

So, what exactly is this sneaky little nugget?

It's called a sialolith, or a salivary gland stone. The word itself is a blend of ancient Greek: sialon for "saliva" and lithos for "stone."

These are essentially deposits of calcified minerals—mostly calcium and phosphate—that form within the salivary gland or its tiny drainage duct. Think of them as little, slow-growing pearls made of spit-minerals. Our patient's was particularly impressive in size (you can see the texture up close in the zoomed-in picture!).

Most people don't even know they have one until it causes a backup, making the gland swell up, especially when they eat and their mouth is trying to make a lot of saliva. Luckily, we caught this one before it caused any real pain or infection!

The Fix: Sialendoscopy

The way we get these troublemakers out is a fantastic example of "less is more". We performed a procedure called sialendoscopy which is removing the stone (patient was numbed) and all is good. The salivary gland in question today was in the patient's cheek. Many people don't realize we have those glands up that high.

Thank you Dr. Orfi!