Elemental characteristics of sialoliths extracted from a patient with recurrent sialolithiasis

The exact mechanism of sialolith formation has yet to be determined. Recurrence of sialolithiasis is rare, affecting only 1%-10% of patients. The current study presents a case of recurrent stones that occurred twice on the right submandibular gland 6 months postoperative and 7 months after reoperation in a 48-year-old female patient. The stones were analyzed using histology, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The first stone showed a three-layered structure with a poorly mineralized peripheral multilayered zone, highly mineralized middle layer, and the central nidus. The stones were composed of Ca, C, O, Cu, F, N, P, Si, Zn, and Zr. In TEM, compact bi-layered bacterial cell membrane was found on the peripheral layer and the central nidus of the stone as well as exosomes in the central nidus. The results demonstrated the essential components of sialolith formation, including bacteria, inflammatory exosomes, and exfoliated salivary epithelial cells that cooperatively underwent the pathogenetic progresses of central nidus formation, induction of compact zone calcification of the middle layer, and repeated subsequent deposition in the peripheral multilayer zone. The rapid recurrence could have resulted from residual pieces of a sialolith acting as the nidus of bacterial infection.