Sublingual gland

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Sublingual gland

Dissection, showing salivary glands of right side. (Sublingual gland visible near bottom right.)

Salivary glands: #1 is Parotid gland, #2 is Submaxillary gland, #3 is Sublingual gland
Latin	glandula sublinguali
Gray's	subject #242 1136
MeSH	Sublingual+Gland
Dorlands/Elsevier	g_06/12392700

The sublingual glands are salivary glands in the mouth.

They lie anterior to the submandibular gland under the tongue, beneath the mucous membrane of the floor of the mouth.

They are drained by 8-20 excretory ducts.

The largest duct, the sublingual duct (of Bartholin) joins the submandibular duct to drain through the sublingual caruncle.

The sublingual gland consists mostly of Mucous acini capped with serous demilunes and is therefore categorized as a mixed gland.

Most of the remaining small sublingual ducts open separately into the mouth on an elevated crest of mucous membrane, the sublingual fold (plica), caused by the gland and on either side of the frenulum linguae.

The chorda tympani nerve (from the facial nerve via the lingual nerve) is secretomotor to the sublingual glands.