A white17-year-old female patient presented with a 4-month history of swelling over her\nleft cheek anteriorly to the ear. She referred 3 previous episodes, the last one having\nstarted 1 month before the appointment. She denied trauma to the region, had not have\nepisodes of fever lately and her medical history was not contributory. There was no\nassociated pain or alteration of facial function as well as no motor or sensory deficits\nwere observed.\nThe swelling measured about 6 cm in length and 5 cm in width. On bimanual palpation an\nill-defined and resilient mass was noticed (). This mass was evident extra orally with a considerable bulging of the skin\nin the left parotid region. The lesion was normal and no lymphadenopathy was detected.\nOn intraoral examination, oral mucosa and teeth were healthy. The parotid duct in the\naffected side was normal and salivary flow had normal physical aspects without debris or\npurulent discharge. The presumptive clinical diagnosis was an abscess associated to mild\ninflammation, considering the patient’s history and the previous episodes. Conventional\npanoramic radiography, ultrasonography and sialography were performed. The panoramic\nradiograph showed teeth and bones preserved without any evidence of abnormalities. The\nultrasonographic scan revealed a hypoechoic ovoid well defined image suggesting a cyst\n(). Sialography of the left parotid was\nperformed using Lipiodol® (Lipiodol; Guerbet, Jacarepaguá, RJ,\nBrazil) as a substance of contrast. A partial filling of the gland was enough to show\ncavitary sialectasia in a panoramic ()\nand anteroposterior view (), and the\ncontrast was retained in the gland for at least 24 hours ().\nA percutaneous needle aspiration of the swelling was performed 2 weeks after the\nsialography. It yielded 4 mL of a clear viscous fluid. The material was submitted to\nmicrobiological analysis and showed numerous polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The fluid did\nnot show any bacterial growth and presented high amylase levels (7,810 units/L). The\naspiration procedure was sufficient to empty the cavity. The patient was advertised to\ncompression dressing twice a day. Seven days after the percutaneous aspiration a great\ndecrease of the swelling was observed. The overlying skin showed a discreet erythema on\nthe surface of the mass, without signs of infection, and the patient did not refer pain\n(). At the 30-day follow-up visit,\ncomplete recovery was noticed, and the residual swelling had totally disappeared (). The patient was followed up during two\nyears and a half and no recurrence was detected.
An 8-month-old male child presented with salivary discharge from the right cheek since birth. On inspection, there was a 1 mm external fistulous opening, 2 cm from the angle of the mouth with ipsilateral preauricular appendage. Intraoral examination was normal. On sinogram, no obvious tract could be identified. Under general anesthesia, cannulation of external fistulous opening was extremely difficult due to its very narrow caliber. A 24G plastic cannula could be passed for only 5 mm through which methylene blue dye was injected. Similar dissection was done as in the previous case with the tract being dissected externally and transposed intraorally. Diffuse intraoral discoloration by the dye was noted and insufficient length of cannula within the duct made identification of further intraoral tract difficult and the procedure had to be abandoned. The preauricular skin tag was excised. Postoperatively, there was local edema and a small dry ulcer over the cheek []. It eventually healed with secondary intention. At 1-year follow-up, there is no external salivary discharge with good cosmetic outcome.