Submandibular Duct Re-routing for Drooling in Neurologically Impaired Children

Drooling is a challenging situation to manage especially in neurologically impaired pediatric population. Numerous surgical procedures have been described in literature but none of them is standardized. We evaluate the effectiveness of bilateral submandibular duct rerouting and sublingual gland excision in drooling paediatric patients. Prospective interventional study was conducted from November 2007 to September 2009 in twenty-eight pediatric patients with drooling who had failed conservative treatment modalities. Patients underwent bilateral submandibular duct transposition and sublingual gland excision. Patients were assessed pre-operatively, at 7, 30 and 90 days after surgery for drooling severity, frequency as per Thomas-Stonell and Greenberg classification and also number of bibs changed per day. Result was categorized using Wilkie and Brody criteria for assessing effectiveness of the surgery. Twenty-eight patients were successfully operated. All patients were followed-up for a duration of at least 3 months. The success rate achieved in term of control of drooling was 95.2 % at 3 months follow up. Statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) was noted in pre-operative and postoperative mean values for severity and frequency of drooling and also bibs/day. Transient, minor complications (n = 5/28, 17.8 %) were encountered following this surgical procedure. Bilateral submandibular duct rerouting and sublingual gland excision in drooling paediatric patients is a simple and effective surgery with minor operative morbidity. Concomitant sublingual gland excision bilaterally helps in reducing the incidence of ranula formation significantly.