Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Parotid gland

The largest salivary gland, mostly serous, lying below the external auditory meatus, behind the ramus of the mandible and in front of sternocleidomastoid.

Key points

• Largest, serous; facial nerve runs through it.
• Duct opposite the upper 2nd molar.
• Secretomotor: IX → otic ganglion → auriculotemporal.
• Malignancy → facial palsy.
• Parotid: ectodermal outgrowth along the cheek fusion line.
• Parotid: serous.
• Salivon = acinus + intercalated + striated duct.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Nerve supply · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1745–1748
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF p. 110; ch. 12, PDF p. 173
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 17, PDF pp. 305–306, 307

More from the head and neck

• Pharyngeal constrictors
• Pharynx
• Phrenic nerve
• Pineal body
• Piriform cortex
• Pituitary gland
• Platysma
• Pons
• Postcentral gyrus
• Posterior cerebral artery
• Posterior cricoarytenoid
• Precentral gyrus

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