Salivary Gland Removal - Stones (Mostly Off Topic)

Triathlon Forum
1

I have a stone in my lower left salivary gland which can not be removed. My ENT wants to surgically remove the whole gland. My questions are:

Has anyone else on the board been down this road? What where the effects of a removal?

My ENT suggested I skip a Tri next week b/c he does not want me to become dehydrated. I tend to agree but would like to hear other’s thoughts on this as well.

Thanks in advance.

2

Dehydration? Um…what would a salivary gland have to do with how much you drink?

I think that your ENT may be a bit over cautious. Then again I am not a doctor.

3

My guess is that your doctor is being prudently cautious. A condition causing stones to form can be a condition that may be worsened by becoming dehydrated. Perhaps the doctor is concerned not about the particular stone in the one salivary gland, but about your overall health picture. I’m not familiar with salivary gland stones and their causes, but it is an abnormality to have a stone formation there. How this ties in to the possibility of other stone formation in other areas (kidney, gall bladder, etc.) is unknown to me, but may be a valid concern.

I’d question the doctor about it more to get the thought process behind the recommendation, then you can make a better informed decision about whether or not to race next weekend. If you already tend to agree, I assume because you are leaning to the side of safety, it would be hard to argue against sitting this race out.

Still, you need to find out the reasons for the stone formation in the first place…maybe this isn’t so much of an overall stone-forming-tendency abnormality, but more like a grain of sand in an oyster type of deal…just bad luck. Find out.

4

Thanks to both of you.

Yes, stones can be caused by excessive dehydration according to my readings and the Dr. Interestingly, I first noticed it after a MTB race where I did not carry any water as I expected a 30 to 40 minutie race and not the 80 minute one I ended up doing. The stone was not caused by the race but was revealed and made symptamatic by the race.

His concern about dehydration and racing is that the the possibility of an infection (the stone often blocks the gland and keeps it from secreting) ) will increase.

I really appreciate the responses. Thanks. DavidK.

5

Which salivary gland?

Paratoid galnd removal is a very dangerous procedure due to the close nature of the facial nerve…

submandibular are not as dangerous but neither are trivial procedures.

6

Submandibular. I made an appointment for a second opinion with an oral surgaon this morning.

Thanks. DavidK

7

I had one of these when I was a kid (12 or so) and then again when I was in my late 30’s. Had some swelling after a minor blow to the face and went to the Dr. They took a panoramic x-ray and asked me whether I had ever been shot in the face! It was in the parotid (sp) and they didn’t want to do too much because of a major facial nerve in the area. No real problems and then a couple of years later had a panoramic done for dental work and nothing was there. I really work the hydration end and believe that it dissolved over time. Unless it is causing major problems leave it alone and see what happens.

Larry

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Thanks. DavidK