What is submandibular abscess?

A submandibular space infection is a bacterial infection of the floor of the mouth. Bacteria can spread from an infected lower tooth to the tissue under and around the tongue.

What separates sublingual and submandibular space?

The mylohyoid muscle ( arrows ) separates the sublingual space from the submandibular space and is a key landmark in imaging of the oral cavity.

What is a space abscess?

Submandibular space infection is acute cellulitis of the soft tissues below the mouth. Symptoms include pain, dysphagia, and potentially fatal airway obstruction. Diagnosis usually is clinical. Treatment includes airway management, surgical drainage, and IV antibiotics.

What causes submandibular abscess?

The condition usually develops from an odontogenic infection, especially of the 2nd and 3rd mandibular molars. Contributing factors may include poor dental hygiene, tooth extractions, and trauma (eg, fractures of the mandible, lacerations of the floor of the mouth).

What causes swelling of submandibular gland?

Swollen submandibular glands are usually caused by tiny stones blocking the ducts that channel saliva into the mouth. According to the Merck Manual, these stones can develop from the salts in saliva, especially if a person is dehydrated.

What bacteria causes Ludwig angina?

Streptococcal and staphylococcal bacteria are the most common types of bacteria that lead to Ludwig’s angina, especially Streptococcus viridans, Staphylococcus epidermis, and Staphylococcus aureus.

What causes a submandibular abscess?

What are the causes of submandibular infection?

A submandibular space infection is a bacterial infection of the floor of the mouth. Bacteria can spread from an infected lower tooth to the tissue under and around the tongue. People with poor dental hygiene and people who have had a tooth pulled or a jaw fracture are at higher risk.

Can a submandibular space infection be an abscess?

Submandibular space infection is a rapidly spreading, bilateral, indurated cellulitis occurring in the suprahyoid soft tissues, the floor of the mouth, and both sublingual and submaxillary spaces without abscess formation. Although not a true abscess, it resembles one clinically and is treated similarly.

Is the submandibular space the same as the submental space?

The article below uses the most granular of these definitions (i.e. treating the submental and sublingual spaces as separate compartments and the submandibular space to be synonymous with the submylohyoid/submaxillary space).

Is the sublingual space bounded by fascia posteriorly?

As the sublingual space is not bounded by fascia posteriorly, some authors consider the sublingual space a component of the submandibular space 2. More commonly, however, the sublingual and submandibular spaces are discussed separately 3-5.

How is the drainage of the sublingual space done?

Surgical drainage of the sublingual space should be performed intraorally by an incision through the mucosa parallel to the Wharton duct bilaterally. If the submandibular space is to be drained, both spaces can be reached through a submandibular approach.