Surgical Outcomes of Pediatric Drooling Control

This study analysed a historic cohort of children and adolescents who were examined at the Multidisciplinary Saliva Control Centre of the Radboud university medical centre Nijmegen, the Netherlands, between March 2005 and April 2016. Ninety-nine patients had SMDR with simultaneous excision of the sublingual glands for excessive drooling. We excluded 3 patients because of their age (>24 years) [4 (link)]. All participants were considered to have a safe pharyngeal phase of swallowing. None of the children had previous surgical procedures of the floor of the mouth or for saliva control. Information was collected concerning age at time of surgery, duration of surgery, postoperative management, duration of intubation, and duration of hospital stay. Occurrence of tongue or floor of the mouth swelling, stridor, postoperative pneumonia and atelectasis were reviewed. Any other complications occurring during surgery or postoperatively were also identified. Co-morbidity was assessed preoperatively by an anaesthesiologist using the ASA physical status.