How many categories are human salivary glands?
What is meant by minor salivary glands?
In the following, we intend to acquaint you with the minor salivary glands.
what you will read next :
Minor Salivary glands
The small glands under the oral mucosa that constantly secrete saliva are called minor salivary glands.
Saliva contains water and enzymes that soften the food eaten.
In addition, it maintains moisture inside the mouth, which will affect the activity of the taste buds and the sense of taste, salivary amylase is an enzyme that performs the primary digestion of starch.
Saliva secretion is involuntary and is stimulated by both the autonomic nervous system of our body, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
Under what headings are the main or major salivary glands named?
In addition to the minor salivary glands, humans have three pairs of major salivary glands, which are named under the following headings.
- Parotid gland
- Sub mandibular
- Sublingual
Types of minor salivary glands
Minor salivary glands are:
- Labial gland
- Buccal Gland
- Glossopalatine Gland
- Lingual Gland
- Palatine Gland
Saliva secretion is necessary for chewing, speaking, and protecting the oral mucosa.
It is said that there are eight hundred to one thousand minor salivary glands in an adult human.
The location of these glands is under the oral mucosa, ie between the mucosa and sub-mucosa in the buccal area, lips, both sides of the hard palate, tongue, soft palate and the floor of the mouth.
The size of the salivary glands is only one to two millimeters long. These glands do not have a capsule around them and are surrounded only by connective tissue.
Each of these glands has small sacs inside that are connected by thin tubes.
Sometimes connections are made between the ducts of these glands and the ducts of other minor glands, and several minor glands have a common secretory duct, or each of the minor salivary glands may have its own independent secretory duct.
The secretion of most of the salivary glands is dominated by its mucus, with the exception of Von Ebner’s gland.
The innervation of these glands will be from the facial nerve, so in injuries of the facial nerve, the secretion of these glands will be impaired.
It is said that the smallest minor salivary gland is called the sublingual salivary gland.
The most effective factor in the secretion of salivary glands will be acute stress on him or her, however, prolonged stress can not cause damage to the salivary glands.
Among the rare disorders in the salivary glands, what can be mentioned?
A benign tumor of the salivary glands called oncocytoma
Chronic sclerosing sialadenitis or Kuttner tumor:
It is One of the uncommon causes of enlarged salivary glands, it is a chronic inflammatory disorder; it usually occurs unilaterally or bilaterally in the submandibular salivary gland, but in rare cases, it may also develop in the salivary glands of the floor of the mouth, which manifests itself as a firm protrusion of the floor of the mouth.
Most cases of this benign tumor are associated with underlying autoimmune disorders. The standard treatment is removal of the lesion and follow-up six months after surgery. In addition to this minor surgery, corticosteroids are sometimes used to control underlying autoimmune disorders.