Anatomy, Head and Neck, Submandibular Gland

The submandibular gland is the second largest of the three main salivary glands, which also include the parotid and sublingual glands. The submandibular glands are paired major salivary glands that lie in the submandibular triangle. The glands have a superficial and deep lobe separated by the mylohyoid muscle .The Wharton duct, the submandibular gland’s primary excretory duct, drains into the oral cavity at the sublingual caruncle. The sublingual caruncle is a papilla located medial to the sublingual gland and lateral to each side of the frenulum linguae . The submandibular gland produces approximately 70% of the saliva in the unstimulated state. However, the parotid gland’s saliva production predominates once the salivary glands become stimulated .