Glandular Discomfort

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#1 Post by **KLK** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:43 pm

Ive search high and low for any topics relating to this but cant find a thing so either Im totally unique or looking for the wrong thing!! LOL

Since I had my brace on (nearly 2 weeks) I havent really started chewing yet, just kinda sucking and swallowing food and Ive noticed pain has started in both my glands (by my ears) Now Im guessing this is something to do with saliver glands and not chewing. Does anyone have a clue???

Thanks
Ki

#2 Post by **jennielee81** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:09 pm

I could be wrong, but I am 98% sure that the salivary glands are NOT the same as the glands that are behind your ears.

Those glands, along with several other pairs in the head and throughout the body) drain lymph fluid from the body and are a major player in our body's immune system.

Salivary glands are actually all located in front of the ear, lower jaw and below the ear and secrete rather than drain. These glands don't swell when we're sick....unless they, themselves, are infected.

If the glands behind your ears are swollen and sore, you've got an active infection in your body. Most likely not related to your braces. Could be something that you are not even aware of and your body is working beautifully to handle it. It could even be from a bug bite.

If it continues and/or you get a fever, I would call your general practitioner or regular doc and get it figured out.

#3 Post by **SandraJones** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:38 pm

KLK, I have had this too !!!! I had it for several days after my braces were installed. I'm not sure what it is. As I recall it was directly under and just behind my ear lobes.

I think the salivary glands are the parotid glands. My father had trouble with his requiring surgery, so I was wondering if I inherited the problem. In this picture I see that the gland does extend to where I felt pain.

#4 Post by **SandraJones** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:40 pm

OK, just read this info below. I think my father had stones.

Inflammation of one or both parotid glands is known as parotitis. The most common cause of parotitis was mumps. Widespread vaccination against mumps has markedly reduced the incidence of mumps parotitis. Other infections such as bacterial infections can cause parotitis as may blockage of the duct, whether from salivary duct calculi or external compression. Stones mainly occur within the main confluence of the ducts and within the main parotid duct. The patient usually complains of intense pain when salivating and tends to avoid foods which produce this symptom. In addition the parotid gland may become enlarged upon trying to eat. The pain can be reproduced in clinic via squirting lemon juice into the patient's mouth. Surgery depends upon the situation of the stone, if within the anterior aspect of the duct a simple incision into the buccal mucosa with sphinterotomy may allow removal, however if further posterior within the main duct, complete gland excision may be necessary.

#5 Post by **PrincessMelody** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:56 am

Wow, I thought I was going crazy, but apparently I'm not the only one. I have been getting pain in the general vicinity of my ears on off for quite a while now. It comes and goes and I just associated with sort of muscle pain as my bite is constantly changing and the muscles in my jaw are having to compensate for that. I don't know, that's just my take on it.

#6 Post by **SandraJones** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:39 am

I'm doing a lot more sucking of food now that I've got the braces on. I have a Power Bar snack every day and now that I can't bite and chew it I cut off thin slivers and suck on them. I do that with a lot of other food too. I'm thinking that the sudden change put a stress on my glands. They seem to have recovered.

I also had TMD issues a week or two ago but they have resolved as well. My bite is changing too, Princess Melody, for the past cuople of weeks only one lower and one upper premolar touch, none of my other teeth touch ! The upper is moving out and I'm hoping in a month or two it will be far enough out to allow the cusp of the lower to fit into the groove of the upper and my bite will close down again. Very disconcerting ! I guess the jaw muscles have gotten used to it now.

I have to correct my above info ... only the salivary glands near the ears are the parotid glands.

I had mumps, I remember that pain well but didn't even associate it with the pain I experienced in the first weeks of having braces ! Now it makes sense.

#7 Post by **MrKadash** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:43 pm

I have six weeks to go, and wearing what my ortho calls spaghetti elastics where the bands are intertwined throughout my whole mouth connecting the top and bottom brackets. Night time only - 8 hours. About three days after beginning this, my left parotid gland balooned to the size of a golf ball. I looked like I got slugged. No other symptoms, so my doctor was able to rule out any infection, and attributed it to either TMJ or the stress on my bite. He suggested I quit the bands for a few days and see what happens. Sure enough it went away, and after continuing my banding, it has not returned (fingers crossed.)

#8 Post by **SandraJones** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:09 am

Interesting !! I'm sorry you had to go through that, it must have freaked you out !

It's weird, I didn't even know mumps is an infection of the parotid gland until I read about the gland yesterday. You must have looked like you had mumps ! I remember when I had it, one side swelled first, and then the other. I remember too it was really painful to open my mouth first thing in the morning, it must have been pressing on the TMJ muscles.

I take it you didn't have a fever and that was one sign that your gland wasn't actually infected.