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A friend of mine had that years ago - every time he ate the side of his head would swell out as saliver gland was block - up near temple.

The doctors gave it 4 days to clear otherwise they were going to operate - it cleared and he hasnt had problem since

I seem to remember that there is a saline injection procedure for that. You could find a surgeon that removes gallstones (while not removing the gallbladder) and see if they can crank up their little basket on a stick thing.

If this happened to me, I would be dialing down my cpap pressure for a few days until you can get it fixed. Cpap pressure isn't going to make it any better.

Thanks for all the comments! I was prepared for any outcome. Just got back from ENT and she says it's not a stone, but an infected parotid gland. She gave me antibiotics and told me to keep hot rags on it and suck on Warheads candy, or a lemon. (I don't know where to get Warheads.) She said if it was a stone, it wouldn't hurt? Anyway, I'm already off Percocet, there's no pain unless I touch the swollen cheek area. She said it is usually got by not drinking enough. I asked her if dental device/PAP therapy could have caused it, and she said no. I feel so much better, but shelled out a ton of money for this excursion, but at least I know what it is, and next time I think I'll just handle it myself, or get the prescription for the antibiotics.

Glad you got it handled and it's going to get better. All's well that ends well.

Slightly OT, but has anyone noticed a correlation between frequent / any salivary stones and tonsil stones?

sylvie wrote:She said if it was a stone, it wouldn't hurt?

Mine did not hurt, I didn't even know it was there. It showed up on an xray and my ENT could feel it. I didn't get freaked out until after the surgery, when I went back to have stitches removed and he told me pathology came back negative. Naive me didn't even think that they would have to send it off for pathology.

Slightly OT, but has anyone noticed a correlation between frequent / any salivary stones and tonsil stones?

The only thing I have noticed, as has my dentist, is that I now have a bit of dry mouth; which I guess is understandable since I am minus the submandibular salivary gland on my left side.

I think the pathology lab test is a given,
any time they remove something from your body;
just to cover their hineys.

Chunkyfrog -

I know that now. But I was much younger and that was my first surgery - I just didn;t even think of it. I am glad they did; I am glad it came back negative. I just wish they had told me a bit more before the surgery (or I had listened better). I initially thought it was to be out patient.... Oh well.

I have one now and have had for quite some time. Never really bothered me but I have appointment with my ENT Ear Nose Throat Doctor coming up as I should take care of it while its easy and not when I have trouble in some 3rd world country. If you youtube "salivary gland stone removal" you might not sleep tonight~!

I have had kidney stones several times and the last time removed all with per-cutaneous extraction. My belief is this causes some time after I switched from Cow's milk to Soy milk and think this is the reason for my salivary stone too. No more un-fermented Soy for me~! Now making Soy milk yogurt with my Soy milk maker and Soy Kefir. And Natto, look that one up~! Good for your gut and your heart... pro-biotic with soil bacteria~!

On CPAP for about 12 years now, and believe my apnea was big part of my heart problems. Many are unaware. We have Apnea meetings in Tampa Bay area once a month. Last months topic was having surgery and how to bring your cpap and insist on many things or you wont get to use it. I have the T-shirt on that one~!

I've had them, twice at least. First time they or it passed after a couple of days of sucking on lemon drops. It was the worst pain I ever had, I compared it to having an elephant sit on my jaw.

Second time they did not pass on own, I saw an ENT and required surgery. After a course of antibiotics;They removed the gland from under my jaw.

That was 1995 & 1996, they have not returned since.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you.

sylvie wrote:I woke up with horrendous pain in my right face cheek area yesterday. I thought maybe I had torn a cheek muscle. This morning, I went to an emergency walk-in clinic where they directed me to immediately go to the hospital emergency room, as they thought it could be absessed and it might go to the brain. After palpating the swollen, hard cheek area, the doc thinks there is a stone in my salivary gland, like you get with a kidney stone, and that it is not a torn cheek muscle. Doc gave me Percocet and am to apply warm, moist heat to area. Has anyone had experience with a stone in their salivary gland, and if so, how long did it take you to get over it, and do you know why you got it, and anything else you know about it? Doc said to also suck on sour candy, which I'm doing too.

That is what my doc thought was wrong with me when I went in with a really very painful face - she ordered an mri thinking I had a stone in my saliva gland, found out I had TMJ - bad TMJ - so she sent me off to the oral surgeon who sent me to the sleep doc. . .and I went to physical therapy for my jaw. You might want to ask for an MRI or a CT scan. . .to be definitive with it.

I had a saliva stone years ago. Basically any gland can produce a stone. I went to an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist and he dug it all out. Saliva stones are the least understood stones and are rare, from what he told me.

My daughter use to get stones in her tonsils. There were folds in her tonsils and food would get in them and then calcify. This was a little gross but we use to use q-tips to dislodge the rocks as soon as we saw them. This kept her from getting an infection. I mean it was almost a weekly deal that we would see a spot swell up. Finally she had the tonsils out ( the pediatrician just kept saying no and no referral) and no problems since. She would even run a fever when she got them.

I just did! In the space of 5 or 10 minutes my face suddenly swelled up. It wasn't painful, unless I was chewing. I was put on anti-biotics, which immediately resulted in the swelling going down. However, it was draining into my mouth, and I had some achiness in my jaw and neck. I went to an ENT, who gave me the exact advice I need to get rid of the stones blocking my salivary gland (a CT scan showed 2): 1. Hydrate yourself very well 2. Apply heat. 3. Massage the area, applying pressure to make it drain- this is very important! 4. Also very important- eat sour candies or any food that causes you to salivate, it's necessary in order to unclog it. When I really followed these steps, the stones came our ( thought I had bitten onto a peppercorn or something!). Anti-bioethics alone couldn't cute it, but the massage and sour candies sure did! Good luck

My problem started with a small bump on the inside of my cheek but it didn't hurt so I didn't worry about it. At a routine teeth cleaning I asked about it and the dentist just said that is your salivary gland, nothing to worry about. A couple of weeks ago I started to have pain surrounding that bump on the inside of my cheek and slight swelling all over my right cheek but mostly up by my ear. After brushing my teeth one night, as I laid down in bed, I felt a small hard object in my mouth and got up to look at it and it was a small rock the size of a grain of rice. I went to my family Dr. and told them about the stone and I was told that I had a salivary gland stone but now that it has passed it left an infection. The Dr. drained a little of the infection out which gave me some relief and prescribed me an antibiotic. The next day I woke with excruciating pain and my face was swollen twice the size it was the day before. I called my Dr. and they referred me to an ENT. The ENT prescribed me a different antibiotic (didn't like the one that my family Dr. gave me) and some pain medication and told me to drink lots of liquids, gently massage my face, suck on sour candies and rinse mouth with warm salt water several times per day along with warm compresses to the face. I have been doing all of this the last few days and the swelling has subsided as well as the pain but I was still having discomfort and could see something white at the opening of my salivary gland. I switched off of lemon drops and started eating sour patch kids candy and another stone came out! I hope that is it and the swelling starts to go down and that this problem goes away for good! I have my follow-up appointment tomorrow so we will see. I just wish I knew 100% what causes this to happen!