We clinically observed patients with sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland who visited our department during the past 10 years (January 1984 to December 1993). The following results were obtained.
One hundred forty-six cases of sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland were diagnosed. The highest proportion of patients were in their 3rd decade of life, and the ratio of men to women was 1 to 1.4. The most common site of occurrence was within the submandibular duct (84.2%), and larger sialoliths tended to occur in the gland and the transitional portion. The main clinical symptoms of submandibular sialolithiasis were swelling and/or tenderness of the gland, and these symptoms tended to occur on the gland side. Infection of the oral cavity tended to occur on the orifice side.
