What are salivary gland stones and how are they treated?
Particularly if your daughter’s pain occurs when she’s eating, she might have one or more salivary gland stones. Your doctor is right. They are unusual—but not unheard of—in children. Salivary gland stones form in the ducts of the salivary glands in and around the mouth and throat, including near the upper teeth, under the tongue and across the floor of the mouth. Salivary glands produce saliva. Stones can partially or completely block the salivary ducts, the pathways for saliva to travel from these glands into the mouth. The stones can be as large as a pea, but much smaller stones can cause problems, depending on where they are lodged. The pain most often occurs with eating, when the salivary glands have kicked into gear to moisten food. Blocked salivary ducts also can cause infection—another source of pain. Researchers aren’t sure exactly what causes salivary gland stones or what might put an individual at increased risk. Their formation is similar to the process that causes kidney s
