Dr Mohammad Al-Masri

By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at Amiri Hospital Dental Center Dr Mohammad Abdelkareem Al-Masri said a major operation was carried out on a 55-year-old patient - a rare procedure to remove a very large salivary gland stone. He said the stone removed is larger than the one registered by Guinness World Records, which weighed 50 gm and was 6 cm long, as this one weighs 74 gm and is 6 cm long.

Dr Masri said the patient, who is diabetic, had an infection in the salivary gland on the right side of the jaw. The stone was discovered during treatment. The surgery was carried out after all preparations were completed. It took two hours to remove the stone and the salivary gland. The patient left hospital three days later.

On the reasons stones are formed in salivary glands, he said this happens due to severe dehydration and drinking too little water, especially during high temperatures, adding that such cases are widespread but not of such a large size.