Ranula Cyst, (Salivary Cyst) A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

A ranula is a form of mucus cyst found on the floor of the mouth.
Ranulas present as a swelling of connective tissue consisting of collected mucin from a ruptured salivary gland caused by local trauma.
A ranula is a form of mucocele, and could be classified as a disorder of the salivary glands.
Normally a ranula is confined to the floor of the mouth (termed a "simple ranula").
An abnormal variant is the cervical ranula (also called a plunging or diving ranula), where the lump is in the neck rather than the floor of the mouth.
A Ranula is a clear retention cyst in the floor of the mouth occurring from the sublingual salivary glands.
Ranula means a small frog and the cyst is so-called because of a resemblance to a small frog.
The cyst becomes bigger slowly, piercing the deep structures of the floor of the mouth above the mylohyoid muscle.
It is more frequent in neonates and children and potentially can cause respiratory embarrassment.
It appears as a blue-grey, dome-like swelling beneath the tongue. It is highly transluminable.
It may burst spontaneously, discharging its contents and collapsing, but almost invariably recurring.
The clear fluid within a ranula has the viscous, jellylike consistency of egg white.
Ranula cysts are caused by blockage of the salivary glands under the tongue.
Minor damage to the floor of the mouth is believed to injure the delicate ducts that drain saliva from the sublingual gland into the oral cavity.
The lesion is a mucous extra-vasation cyst (mucocele) of the floor of mouth, while a ranula is often larger than other mucoceles (mainly because the overlying mucosa is thicker).
They can grow so large that they fill the mouth.
The most frequent source of the mucin spillage is the sublingual salivary gland, but ranulas may also occur from the sub-mandibular duct or the minor salivary glands in the floor of the mouth.
A cervical ranula happens when the spilled mucin transmits its way through the mylohyoid muscle, which divides the sublingual from the sub-mandibular space, and creates a swelling in the neck.
Symptoms of ranula are:
1.Normally painless swelling on the floor of the mouth below the tongue.
2.Often appears bluish and dome-shaped.
3.If the cyst is large, chewing, swallowing, talking may be affected.
4.If the cyst grows into the neck muscle, breathing can stop.
Diagnostic criteria for a ranula cyst are:
1.Mostly seen in young children and adolescents, both sexes are equally affected.
2.Swelling in floor of mouth, which may be painful.
3.Mostly unilateral, on one side of frenulum.
4.Shape is spherical
5.Size varies from 1 – 5 cm in diameter
6.Color is pale blue with characteristics semi transparent appearance.
7.Surface is smooth and mucous membrane is mobile over the swelling.
Other tests that may be done are:
1.Biopsy
2.Ultrasound
3.CT scan,
The treatment of ranulas normally needs the resection of the sublingual gland.
Surgery may not be required if the ranula is small and asymptomatic.
Marsupialization may occasionally be used, where the intra-oral lesion is opened to the oral cavity with the aim of allowing the sublingual gland to re-establish connection with the oral cavity.
A mucous cyst often can be left by itself as it normally will burst on its own.
If the cyst recurs, it may require to be removed
A ranula is normally removed using laser or surgery.
Treatment is dependent on the size of the ranula.
Small ranulae are excised; larger ones are marsupialized, i.e. de-roofed so that the cyst opens into the floor of the mouth.
The best outcome is removing both the cyst and the gland that caused the cyst.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Ranula Cyst
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Sialolithiasis
Chapter

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Sep 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370844203

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Ranula Cyst,

(Salivary Cyst)

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2017 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Ranula Cyst, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What The patient Need to Treat Ranula Cyst or Salivary cyst)

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If the patient would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 amazon kindle books and 200 into Smashwords.com eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Ranula cyst

A Ranula cyst is especially frightening for a child or the parent to discover in his mouth because of its ballooning size and appearance in the mouth like a frog’s cheek.

I had a patient about 20 years ago who had a large ranula cyst under his left tongue at the age of 15 years who was brought by his parents to consult me.

I reassured the boy and his parents that it can be easily treated with incision and drainage.

He was given a mouth wash, had a local anesthetic to the ranula cyst which was incised open with transparent fluid pouring out on the floor of the mouth. He had no problem since then.

What is Ranula cyst?

A ranula is a form of mucus cyst found on the floor of the mouth.

Ranulas present as a swelling of connective tissue consisting of collected mucin from a ruptured salivary gland caused by local trauma.

If small and asymptomatic, additional treatment may not be required; otherwise minor oral surgery may be indicated.

An oral ranula or mucous cyst (mucocele) is a painless, thin sac on