A salivary gland stone is a mass formed by mineral salts from the salivary juice inside the salivary gland. Normally people can drink more water to avoid getting salivary gland stones. Once salivary gland stones start to accumulate in the salivary gland, it is recommended to visit a doctor for a proper treatment.
A salivary gland stone refers to a compact and hard mass usually formed by mineral salts in the salivary gland or its ducts. It may hinder the flow of the saliva and will therefore lead to pain and swelling of the affected gland. Furthermore, this condition can trigger a bacterial infection of the salivary gland.
The salivary glands produce saliva in the mouth. However, the salivary gland stones can form because there are many different components, such as mineral salts, in saliva, which can precipitate and subsequently form a hard, chalk-like mass and block the gland. When the salivary gland is blocked, it will cause the saliva to accumulate and then result in swelling of the gland, which can be painful. Furthermore, it may lead to inflammation, especially if the gland gets infected with bacteria. There are three different kinds of salivary glands: 1) parotid glands, 2) submandibular glands, and 3) sublingual glands. Salivary gland stones occur more often in the submandibular and parotid glands. Promoting factors for the development of salivary stones are dehydration, high blood level of calcium and inflammatory diseases of the salivary gland. People with salivary gland stones often have symptoms such as problems with opening the mouth or swallowing, dry mouth, pain in the mouth or face, and swelling of the neck or face.
Normally people can drink more water to avoid getting salivary gland stones. Once salivary gland stones start to accumulate in the salivary gland, treatment is mainly aimed at the removal of these stones. The treatment may include 1) massaging the gland and attempting to manually move the stone out of the gland by pushing it out, 2) surgery in order to remove the salivary stones. Nowadays, this can be done with a minimally invasive endoscopy of the salivary gland, 3) use of shock wave lithotripsy. Shock waves are able to break the salivary stones. If the salivary gland becomes infected due to the obstruction, then medication such as antibiotics and surgery to drain or even remove the affected glands may be considered.
Several years of work in academia, medical practice and finally commercialization make it possible to provide an end-to-end process to help users to “find the appropriate medical help based on their present symptoms”. Below you will find a short explanation, showing you which part of the platform will help you best in finding the appropriate medical support.
Proceed as follows to enter your current symptoms.
Click on the appropriate body part on the picture. Select one/multiple symptoms corresponding to your complaint.
You can also add symptoms by typing your medical complaint in the search box and selecting the best matching suggestion.
Note: Your information will be kept anonymously.
Once you have selected all applicable symptoms, click the “analyze disease pattern”-button.
Accordingly, you will get a list of possible diseases and matching doctor categories who can further help you.
You can inform yourself about the possible diseases by reading the related information. But you can also return to the previous step and add more symptoms or delete already added ones to further narrow down your disease pattern.
Click on the desired doctor category to find a doctor who can help you.
If you are logged in with your profile, you will be displayed the appropriate doctors in your area. Otherwise you can enter an address in the “address” field and you will be displayed a doctor’s list around that specified address.
You will receive further information about the displayed doctors when you press on “details”.
Online bookable doctors in your area will be indicated with the notation “Book appointment” or “Book externally”, additionally they will be displayed on top of the list for your convenience.
Click on “Book appointment” to start the online appointment booking process with the desired doctor.
Please select an available appointment. “Green“ appointments are booked directly. “Red“ appointments need to be confirmed by the doctor.
Enter your general personal and health information.
Enter your present medical symptoms.
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