A guide to salivary gland disorders.

This article discusses salivary gland disorders and provides nurses with a broad base of knowledge for use in planning and implementing perioperative patient care. Salivary gland disorders may be caused by nonneoplastic conditions or neoplasms. Nonneoplastic conditions generally are related to inflammatory processes or are secondary to existing disease processes. Neoplasms manifest themselves as benign or malignant tumors of the salivary glands. Patients with nonneoplastic conditions may undergo surgical procedures for health problems unrelated to their salivary gland disorders; however, patients with salivary gland neoplasms usually undergo surgical excisions of their tumors and affected glands. Patients in both categories require skilled perioperative nursing care.