Primary tuberculosis of submandibular gland

Salivary gland tuberculosis is a rare pathology and does not always have the diagnostic guidelines led by previous tubercular localizations. Tubercular bacillus can reach the salivary gland in different ways, but the condition that most frequently causes a tubercular infection is the decay of the human organism defensive capacity toward the germ.A 15-year-old Romanian boy presented with a swelling in the left submandibular region. Normal extraoral, intraoral examination, and routine diagnostic examinations were performed. In order to make a final diagnosis, we performed a surgical left submandibular gland sialo-adenectomy operation to enable a histologic examination of the withdrawn tissue. Microscopic examination of the gland and lymph nodes showed a chronic necrotizing phlogosis of tubercular type. Previous routine examinations have been important only after final diagnosis to confirm that the submandibular tubercular localization was a primary infection. Diagnosis of this kind of disease is extremely difficult and is made with certainty only with the histologic examination, as happened in our case.