Close

You must be logged in to love this post! Please sign in:

Close

You must be logged in to follow this post! Please sign in:

Jakcar (Sacramento, Ca) on 09/09/2017
5 out of 5 stars

Last night while eating a vinegar & salted potato chip, I had a sudden, sharp, radiating pain under my tongue on the left side. Within minutes the glands under my jaw were swollen and a big knot was visible under my chin. WTH? I had no idea what this was. This morning the swelling was still present and I notices that the salivary duct right under the front of my tongue was swollen, felt rigid - like a toothpick was in there, and there was a round white tip present.

I hit the internet and learned that I might have a salivary gland stone. Called for an appointment to see the Dr. on Monday. Each time I attempted to eat, the swelling got worse…then subsided. This evening I decided to search for home remedies for saliva stones and landed on this article. I read the two posts mentioning distilled vinegar, soaked a cotton swab, and applied it to the white spot on my salivary gland. As I moved the swab around, I noticed after a couple of minutes that the white spot got a little bigger, but it wasn't dislodging. I used tweezers designed for splinters and very carefully applied light pressure to the base of the gland and worked my way up. After a minute or two of this, a long white substance resembling a grain of white basmati rice began to work its way out. I was stunned.

Although hard while blocking my gland, the substance was more the consistency of cooked rice, and after I rubbed it I could tell there was a gritty residue. The vinegar must of dissolved the calcium enough to allow it to dislodge.

So, after a spending a day in discomfort, dreading the possibility of surgery or weeks of pain and obvious facial swelling, 3 minutes with a cotton swab and distilled white vinegar appears to have solved my problem. I still have residual swelling under my jaw and I'm hoping this will subside overnight.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experience with this odd condition. I'd never heard of it before, and I am so thankful to have found a way to resolve this on my own. I'm cautiously optimistic that this was the fix and I won't need to visit the Dr on Monday. WooHoo!

REPLY   16      

Replied By Akps (Seattle) on 11/16/2017

Thank you very much. Excellent write up. I had the same exact scenario. I had to apply distilled vinegar first, massaged for couple of mins, nothing happened, applied vinegar one more time and then took some food again to make it swell and then applied vinegar again and used a tweezer as mentioned to push it up under the tongue. Oh my God, so much white substance came out along with some liquid. After this itself I feel so relieved. I had ultrasound yesterday and the report mentioned no stones. However ultrasound could not find this calcium substance at this place under the tongue on right side. Thank you very much to all your comments here. What a relief! Hope I feel better in couple of days without any more issues related to this.
REPLY   7      

Replied By Zoe (California) on 08/13/2025

I have spent the last two weeks dealing with painful salivary blockage. First thought it was infection, then TMJ. Swollen lymph nodes under the jaw and couldn't open my mouth. Got an ultrasound on my jaw but no diagnosis.

Finally after terrible pain an urgent care doc suggested it might be salivary stone and suggested I suck on lemon drops. I bought a bag of Ricola honey lemon echinacea and 10 hours and maybe 10 drops later I felt it dissolve and had immediate relief.
Now a week later the swelling is much better and I can open my mouth farther but it has not completely recovered.

REPLY   2      

Replied By Art (California) on 08/13/2025

Hi Zoe,

You might try applying melatonin gel to the jaw area to further reduce the inflammation. Here is a link explaining how to make it yourself:

https://www.earthclinic.com/supplements/melatonin-gel.html

Art

Replied By Tessa (Okanagan) on 08/14/2025

Hi Zoe -

It sounds like you are on the right path with lemon.

There are quite a few helpful suggestions on Earth Clinic's page:

https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/salivary-duct-stones.html

I hope you find a lasting solution soon.

Take care.

Replied By Hollyhock (America) on 08/15/2025

A good remedy is to suck on a lemon wedge.

Replied By Hevski (Scotland) on 08/22/2025

I found that sucking Lemon Wedges doesn't help much at all. And just ended up stinging and hurting my lips instead.