Sialoliths: A Radiographic Retrospective Study

Abstract

Sialoliths are salivary gland calcifications that mainly affect submandibular and parotid glands. They are detected incidentally on dental panoramic radiographs. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sialoliths in a Lebanese sample and evaluate the site, gender and age distribution of such findings. In this retrospective study, 500 digital panoramic radiographs, belonging to 219 males and 281 females aged 18-88 years, were examined to identify sialoliths seen as radiopacities in the parotid, submandibular and sublingual glands regions. Findings were analyzed statistically using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). Descriptive statistics were presented and Chi-square tests and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to assess relationships between sialoliths and gender, age and site. Statistical significance was set at p = 0.05. In our sample of 500 radiographs, sialoliths were identified in 15 (3%). Submandibular sialoliths were the most common (1.8%) followed by parotid sialoliths (1.2%); no sublingual sialoliths were detected. Females were slightly more affected by submandibular sialoliths while males had higher prevalence of parotid sialoliths. No significant age or gender predilections were detected. Identifying sialoliths on panoramic radiographs by dental professionals is essential to avoid possibility of confusion with other soft tissue calcifications very common in the head and neck regions.

July’s 2021 Full Issue PDF

“…13 An important radiographic retrospective study performed by Aoun et al, which included 500 OPG images of patients with different pathology, showed that submandibular sialoliths were noted only in 1.8% of cases and parotid sialoliths only in 1.2% of cases. 21 Cases presented in this essay clearly showed the radiologic features of sialoliths located in the submandibular gland and Wharton's duct. Sialoliths in our cases are visualized as single or multiple radiopaque lesions being a completely different form -elongated, round, and teardrop-shaped.…”

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“…13 An important radiographic retrospective study performed by Aoun et al, which included 500 OPG images of patients with different pathology, showed that submandibular sialoliths were noted only in 1.8% of cases and parotid sialoliths only in 1.2% of cases. 21 Cases presented in this essay clearly showed the radiologic features of sialoliths located in the submandibular gland and Wharton's duct. Sialoliths in our cases are visualized as single or multiple radiopaque lesions being a completely different form -elongated, round, and teardrop-shaped.…”