Why is swelling of the parotid gland painful?

[Medstart108]

I've been looking for the answer to this and I don't know. My guess is that the facial nerve runs through it and swelling causes pain from it?

Appreciate it if someone could explain it thanks.

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[Venko]

Im not speaking from a foundation of specific personal knowledge or research expertise…but in general when an organ that is designed to secrete something (i.e. pancreas, gallbladder, salivary gland etc) has an obstruction preventing the excretion. There is a pressure that builds and the sensory experience of the organ itself, the surrounding structures, and the nerves passing through all relay that distress to the brain. This is likely more vague an answer than you are looking for, but from a clinician's perspective this is how I would explain it to a patient asking me this question.

 

[SurgeDO]

swelling around the facial shouldn't cause any pain...if anything, it'll trigger a full, ipsilateral face droop (CN VII palsy).

i could imagine the parotid gland would swell for multiple reasons, but the most common is probably due to inflammation. inflammatory molecules released from vessels and molecules released from startled mast cells around the parotid gland should trigger nociceptors (whose cell bodies are located in the trigeminal ganglion) to send an AP to the spinal nucleus of CN V. secondary neurons from the spinal nucleus of CN V desiccate around the caudal medulla and carry an AP along the contralateral trigeminothalamic tract to the somatosensory cortex/insular cortex (first stopping to synapse at the VPM nucleus of the thalamus).

all sensation in the face comes from CN V (with some sensation of the ear coming from CN VII, CN IX, and CN X).

NOTE: trigeminal GANGLION...not nucleus.

 

[Medstart108]

Thanks for the answers! I get it now.

 

[Venko]

swelling around the facial shouldn't cause any pain...if anything, it'll trigger a full, ipsilateral face droop (CN VII palsy).

i could imagine the parotid gland would swell for multiple reasons, but the most common is probably due to inflammation. inflammatory molecules released from vessels and molecules released from startled mast cells around the parotid gland should trigger nociceptors (whose cell bodies are located in the trigeminal ganglion) to send an AP to the spinal nucleus of CN V. secondary neurons from the spinal nucleus of CN V desiccate around the caudal medulla and carry an AP along the contralateral trigeminothalamic tract somatosensory cortex/insular cortex (first stopping at the VPM nucleus of the thalamus).

all sensation in the face comes from CN V (with some sensation of the ear coming from CN VII, CN IX, and CN X).

NOTE: trigeminal GANGLION...not nucleus.

Awesome detail. For what it's worth the most common cause of parotid swelling in the united states is a salivary duct stone.