AFFECTIONS OF SALIVARY GLANDS

Anatomy: Three pairs of salivary glands. –

Parotid – triangular (buffalo) rectangular (sheep) –

Mandibular – larger than parotid –

Sublingual In addition, a number of buccal glands open above the side of the cheek.

Parotid gland: In bovines: Only a part of parotid lymph node is covered by the gland. Sheep:
Lymphnode is Completely overlapped by gland.

STENSON’S DUCT: Duct of parotid gland – Sheep: Crosses the lateral surface of masseter
muscle . In Bovine: It runs along the ventral and rostral border of muscle before opening in
to buccal cavity. Bovines: The duct opens just opposite to the upper 5th cheek teeth. Sheep:
Opens at level of 3rd or 4th cheek teeth.

Mandibular salivary gland: Larger than parotid gland covered to a small extent by parotid
gland. The mandiublar duct ends at the caruncula sublingualis. The sublingual gland has two
parts.

Dorsal part – extends from the palatoglossal area (ant pillar of soft palate) about to the
symphysis of the mandible.

Ventral part: Lies ventral to the rostral position of dorsal part. Numerous ducts from dorsal
part open inferior to the papillae under the side of tongue. The single duct from ventral part
opens either alongside or joins the mandibular duct.

Affections of salivary glands

 Open wounds
 Stenson”s duct
 Salivary fistula
 Foreign bodies in the salivary ducts
 Destruction of the function of the gland
 Salivary calculi
 Tumors
 Subparotid abscess
 1) Salivary gland trauma: Trauma to salivary gland may cause a wound with salivary
secretions and at times infections.

Treatment:

a) Most of such wounds had spontaneously without any treatment. b) Follow gen:
Priniciples of wound management
b) Specific methods: 1) Provision of liquid diet 2) Isolation of animal from noise (to
reduce salivary secretions) (noise will increases salivary secretions) 3) Application of
vascline around the affected side to prevent excoriations

2. Trauma and occlusion of the stenson’s duct:

Infrequent in cattle, buffalo and the occulasion of oral opening by rumen cud may cause its
distension due to impediment in the flow of saliva ultimately causing rupture of duct.

 Leakage of saliva into surrounding tissue along with its local tissue reaction leading to
development of circum scribed soft swelling in the region. Paracentesis of swelling reveals –
thick mucoid saliva often mixed with purulent direclus or ruminal end. The condition is
referred as salivary cyst.

Salivary fistula: A direct trauma from out side to the duct or an abscess formation in the
region. Cause: The duct to rupture along with an exterior wound results into salivary fistula.
In such cases saliva dribbles down from the wound

Saliva dribbles down from the wound in large loses of saliva (especially in results) leads to
dehydration and indigestion.

To treat a fistula, the animal should be deeply sedated or anaesthetised, circular incision is
made along the fistula tract. Careful dissection and avoiding facial artery and vein, the
stensons duct is isolated. A blunt needle or a catheter is passed inside the duct towards the
glandular part, A ligature is placed around the duct. A counter irritant solution such as lugols
iodine (10-15ml) is injected inside the duct to destroy the functions of the gland. The duct is
ligated after withdrawing the cather or needle. The wound is debrided and closed in a routine
manner.

In cases of salivary cyst like condition, the stenson’s duct may be ligated caudal to the
placement of the cyst and the function of the corresponding gland is destroyed. If high grade
infection exists, the cysts is excised completely without rupturing it and the wound is treated
routinely.

Excision of the parotid gland:

In high grade infection leading to purulent discharge from the infected parotid gland,
excision of the gland is indicated.An oblique incision of 15-20 cm is given below the base of
the ear extending along the caudal border of the vertical ramus. The parotid duct is ligated or
clamped. The skin and parotid-auricularis muscle are reflected to expose the gland, excise
the gland and to ligate, on the medial aspect, the branches of the parotid artery , and on its
ventral border the branch of jugular vein. Care should be taken to avoid contamination of the
area. Drainage should be provided and skin wound closed in a routine manner.Post operative
care with antibiotics for 7 days and dressing.

Cannulation of the stensons duct

For experimental animals, for collection of saliva or for parotid saliography.

Lateral recumbency

Rostal border of the masseter muscle is prepared for aseptic surgery

A small incision is given along the masseter groove to isolate the parotid duct which lies
along side the facial artery and vein. The Duct is cannulated. The two catheters of different
diameters are used for cannulating two sides of the duct so that a sliding catheter can be
maintained to collect the saliva whenever required and otherwise maintain the continuity of
the duct.

Neoplasms

Treatment

Surgical excision followed by chemotherapy with cyclophosmamide in dog.