Can submandibular gland enlargement heal itself?

Submandibular gland enlargement is mostly caused by inflammation or blockage of the submandibular gland. If it recurs frequently, surgery is required. In most cases, submandibular gland enlargement will not heal on its own. Pay attention to a light diet and get more rest. If the symptoms cannot be relieved, it is best to go to the hospital in time to check the cause and treat the symptoms to avoid worsening of the disease and causing unnecessary harm to the body.

Submandibular gland enlargement symptoms

Swelling of the submandibular gland is usually caused by secondary infection due to salivary stones in the gland. The cause of salivary retention is the narrowing of the duct lumen after duct inflammation, tumor compression, or foreign body obstruction, which hinders the discharge of saliva and causes it to stagnate in the ducts and alveoli, gradually concentrating, increasing the inorganic salt content and depositing to form salivary stones. In addition, bacterial infection or foreign matter in the duct or gland can form a core of calcium salt deposition. Inorganic salts are deposited in layers around this core, gradually increasing in size to form stones. Systemic factors such as the body's inorganic salt metabolism and the colloidal state of saliva are closely related to the formation of salivary stones. Due to calcium-phosphorus metabolism disorders, the calcium and phosphorus content in the serum increases, and the increase in calcium and phosphorus in saliva can lead to the precipitation of inorganic salts to form stones.

The following are the methods for examining for submandibular gland enlargement:

1. Adjust body position: The patient takes a sitting position, and the examiner should stand in front of or behind the patient's right side. The patient's head should be tilted toward the examination side and the head should be slightly lowered to relax the muscles for easy palpation.

2. Examination technique: Check outside the mouth first. Remember to do a bimanual examination inside the mouth, using the three fingers of the thumb, middle finger, and ring finger to touch and push from back to front.

3. Inspection site: outside the mouth, first check whether the size of the submandibular gland is abnormal, and its mobility, then check from shallow to deep in a certain order. The order of sliding palpation is occipital, behind the ear, in front of the ear, parotid gland, cheek, submandibular, submental, anterior and posterior edges of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, anterior and posterior triangles of the neck, and finally to the supraclavicular fossa.

4. Examination contents: the size and shape of the gland; whether there are lumps and the size, texture, clear boundaries and tenderness of the lumps; whether the duct becomes hard or changes into cord-like shape, and whether there are stones; use the index, middle and ring fingers to touch and push from back to front, observe the duct opening to check the secretion of the submandibular gland, etc.

The examination items for submandibular gland enlargement are as follows:

1. Complement fixation test: The determination of complement includes the determination of total complement, hemolytic activity, the amount of individual complement components and complement fragments, and complement participation test. This test uses the phenomenon of antigen-antibody complex binding to complement to consume the complement in a reaction solution containing a known concentration of complement, thereby reducing the concentration, in order to detect antigens or antibodies. It is one of the highly sensitive detection methods, especially when the antigen-antibody reaction cannot be observed by precipitation reaction or agglutination reaction due to the characteristics of the antigen substance.

2. Oral endoscopy: The emergence of oral endoscope has brought a new mode of oral examination and treatment. When the patient's lesions are presented in front of the patient, no more description or professional knowledge is required. Patients can also understand the urgency of treatment. With the help of clear and intuitive images, doctors can further discover patients' oral lesions and take various treatment measures in a timely manner.

3. Hemagglutination inhibition test: The hemagglutination phenomenon can be inhibited by corresponding antibodies, which is called hemagglutination inhibition test. It is a technology for measuring antigens or antibodies. That is, after adding specific antibodies or specific antigens, the original hemagglutination reaction is inhibited. It is often used in auxiliary diagnosis and epidemiological investigation of orthomyxovirus, paramyxovirus and flavivirus. It can also be used to identify virus types and subtypes. Different virus antibodies may also be the same.