Surgical Treatment of Drooling

Abstract

Eleven persons with brain damage and embarrassing drooling have been operated on by a retro-positioning of the submandibular ducts combined with section and ligation of the sublingual ducts as a treatment against the drooling. Results of the treatment have been analysed by objective measurements and subjective judgments of drooling. Function studies of the submandibular glands have also been made pre- and postoperatively. Nine of the 11 patients show by objective measurement of drooling a postoperative improvement. The subjective judgment often demonstrated diverging results by different nursing personnel within the same patient. No signs of postoperative atrophy were seen in the function studies of the submandibular glands.