Submandibular Glands

Salivary glands beneath the floor of the mouth, in the submandibular triangle along the inner surface of the mandible — within neck level Ib.

Salivary glands under the floor of the mouth. They produce much of the saliva that keeps the mouth moist between meals.

The submandibular glands produce most of the resting (unstimulated) saliva that keeps the mouth moist between meals and overnight. They can be spared only when level Ib is not in the target, which depends on the subsite and nodal stage.

Brouwer 2015 gives these boundaries (Table 1):

• Top: the medial pterygoid and mylohyoid muscles.
• Bottom: fatty tissue.
• Front: the outer surface of the mylohyoid and hyoglossus muscles.
• Back: the parapharyngeal space and the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
• Outside: the inner surfaces of the medial pterygoid muscle and the mandible, and the platysma.
• Inside: the outer surfaces of the mylohyoid and hyoglossus muscles, the superior and middle pharyngeal constrictors, and the anterior belly of the digastric muscle.