How to Treat a Blocked Salivary Gland at Home

A blocked salivary gland can be a painful condition. Salivary glands can become blocked when a small calcium stone forms and gets lodged within the gland, partially or totally blocking the flow of saliva through the duct. A blocked salivary gland can cause both swelling and pain under the tongue, in the gums, the roof of the mouth, as well as under the chin and the upper portion of the neck. If you want to find out how to treat a blocked salivary gland at home, consider the following information.

Be aware that you may end up needing medical attention after all. While many people deal with a temporarily blocked salivary gland without medical attention, some of whom never even notice symptoms, there are individuals who do end up needing to have a medical procedure performed in order to dislodge the calcium stone and unblock the salivary gland. If your symptoms do not begin to improve within 24 hours after you begin to try to treat your blocked salivary gland at home, you may want to consider consulting with your physician. If you develop any redness at the site, or even a slight fever, contact your physician right away for advice.

Salt water is a great place to start when you have a blocked salivary gland. If you want to try to treat your blocked salivary gland at home, there are a few things that can be extraordinarily helpful, both in relieving pain, swelling, and unblocking the duct. Salt water is the first of those. Prepare half a cup of warm saltwater, swish the saltwater in your mouth, spit it out, and repeat until the amount you have prepared is gone. Repeat this process every few hours. The saltwater will not only relieve discomfort, but it also helps to draw out impurities, open the duct, and prevent infection.

Sour candy can be highly effective in treating a blocked salivary gland at home. If you search around the Internet for home remedies to treat a blocked salivary gland, you will undoubtedly come across several suggestions to suck on sour candy. The reason for this is that the sour candy will cause you to produce more saliva, and the flow of this extra saliva can be really effective in clearing the blockage in your salivary gland. Many suggestions promote the use of lemon drops. However, since a blocked salivary gland can cause soreness in the roof of your mouth, hard candy would likely be too uncomfortable to suck on. Opt instead, for gummi sour candies, such as sour gummi LifeSavers. This way, you can increase your saliva production without making the roof of your mouth any more sore than it already is. Sour candy is so effective for treating a blocked salivary gland at home, that my discomfort reduced by half within seconds of putting the first piece of sour gummi candy into my mouth. About 12 hours later, my symptoms had vanished entirely.

Again, if after following these suggestions for 24 hours, you find that your symptoms have not improved, or have worsened, contact your physician. It may be that you actually have a different condition, or you may just be unable to successfully treat your blocked salivary gland at home.