Sialography in dog: normal appearance

The anatomy of dog salivary glands was studied on cadaver heads. The mandibular duct enters the oral cavity on the sublingual caruncle. The parotid gland duct enters the oral cavity on the cheek opposite the 4th upper premolar tooth. The zygomatic salivary gland duct enters the oral cavity opposite the first upper molar tooth. Prior to applying sialography to live animals, catheterization, injection and radiography techniques had to be carried out on cadaver heads. Subsequently, these techniques were applied on five live dogs. The animals were routinely anaesthetized, the mandibular, parotid and zygomatic ducts catheterized, and contrast medium was injected into each gland. Lateral radiographs were made immediately after injection. The normal dog mandibular, parotid and zygomatic salivary glands as depicted on sialograms have a multilobular appearance in cadaver heads, but in live animals the outline of gland, main ducts and their smaller branches could be identified. The parotid duct leaves the deep surface of the rostral end of the gland and courses over the masseter muscle before it enters the mouth. The mean diameter of parotid duct was 1.0 ± 0.4 mm. The mandibular duct leaves the rostral end of the gland, and its mean diameter was 1.0 ± 0.2 mm. The zygomatic duct was also1.0 ± 0.2 mm in diameter. In conclusion, sialography of mandibular, parotid and zygomatic salivary gland in dog is practical and is helpful in the diagnosis of some pathological conditions in these glands.