Salivary Megaliths: A Literature Review of Giant Salivary Sialoliths Larger than 30 mm

Background and Aim: Sialoliths are the most common salivary gland disease, Among them, there are rare sialoliths that have a size of more than 15 mm in one dimension, and salivary stones larger than 30 mm in one dimension is megalith that are very rare. Depending on the location and size of the stone, there are different diagnostic and therapeutic methods. In this article, we review the articles about salivary megaliths of unusual and gigantic size, the cause of stones formation and the method of diagnosis and treatment of salivary megaliths.

In this review article finding the number of reported salivary megaliths, causes, mechanism of stone formation, clinical presentation, diagnostic and therapeutic methods were written.

Materials and Methods: In this article review, Information was extracted through searches in databases by entering the keywords. Articles with incomplete data or articles that were less relevant to the topic or reported articles with giant stones smaller than 30 mm were excluded.

Results: A total of 77 articles, 85 patients suffering from megaliths and 86 salivary megaliths with a size of 30 mm and upwards have been reported up to now. The largest size is reported to be 83 mm. Megalith is more common in men and in the submandibular duct.

Conclusion: salivary megaliths are rare and Depend on the location of megaliths various diagnosis and treatment are available. The exact cause of the formation of them is unknown and further research is needed to identify the etiopathogenesis of the formation of these kind of gigantic salivary stones.