Uncommon Presentation of Common Disease

Tuberculosis is a chronic, granulomatous disease. Primary lesion usually occurs in the lung. Extra pulmonary infection commonly involves head, neck and abdomen. In the absence of typical features of tuberculosis, tuberculous cellulitis mimicking oral infection may pose a challenge for diagnosis. In an attempt to highlight an uncommon presentation, we document a case of extra pulmonary tuberculosis in the parotid gland (tuberculous parotitis), without evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis and HIV. A 30 year old female from low socio-economic status reported with pain in front of the left ear and difficulty in opening her mouth. Swelling was present on left side of the face without evidence of intraoral focus of infection. She was diagnosed to be having tuberculosis of parotid gland after fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), Ultrasonography (USG) and histopathological examination and was treated medically and surgically.