Surgical management of the enlarged sublingual gland in mandibular posterior dental implant rehabilitation.

A series of enlarged sublingual glands (SLG) that affected dental implantation procedures and prosthodontic rehabilitation is presented, along with their management. All patients were referred by their treating prosthodontists due to swelling in the floor of the mouth that caused difficulties in fitting dental implants or rehabilitation. Sixteen patients aged 27-80 years (12 female, 4 male), treated between 2015 and 2022, were included in this study. Thirteen patients had unilateral enlargement and three had bilateral enlargement of the SLG. Four patients refused to undergo surgical removal of the SLG, while 12 patients suffering from pain and discomfort around the implant underwent this procedure. All patients who underwent the surgery completed their dental rehabilitation by prosthodontists, while the patients who refused to undergo the surgery did not proceed with rehabilitation, leaving the implants submerged. Considerable difficulty is often encountered when performing implant-based mandible rehabilitation in the presence of SLG enlargement . In such cases, careful gland excision is safe and eliminates this problem. Thus, removal of the enlarged SLG can be considered before dental implantation procedures in relevant cases.