# can you force air into a salivary gland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163 "2010-01-23T21:46:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/1 "2010-01-23T21:46:35Z")
Not seeking medical advice, just trying to understand a phenomenon I experience. Sometimes when I close my mouth and squeeze (developing some air pressure inside my mouth), I will suddenly get a strange “full” sensation in the rear lateral area of my mouth. The sensation persists even after I release the pressure, and can take 10-20 seconds to fade away. As it happens, the [parotid salivary gland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parotid_gland) is right in the area where the sensation occurs. So…am I forcing air into this gland? Or is there something else going on? ---
**Author:** ![toodlepip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@toodlepip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toodlepip)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/2 "2010-01-24T00:55:10Z")
Sounds more like you’re popping your [Eustachian tubes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustachian_tube). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/3 "2010-01-24T04:24:10Z")
> [@toodlepip](#): > > Sounds more like you’re popping your [Eustachian tubes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustachian_tube). Nope - I’ve done SCUBA diving and flown in airplanes, I definitely know when my ears are popping; this ain’t it. The sensation is located right behind my jawbone, near the letter e in the word “mandible” in [this picture.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray309.png) ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/4 "2010-01-24T11:49:56Z")
It is possible to deliberately force air up Stensen’s duct into the parotid gland, and it sounds like this is what you are doing. In the biz (if you are googling, or something) it would be called parotid insufflation, self-induced, producing a condition of a temporary pneumoparotid. It’s not healthy; you can force mouth germs up there and give yourself a parotitis, which is an infectious inflammation of the parotid gland. Nutcases have made it into the medical literature doing this, either because they are baseline goofy or have Munchausen’s. Glassblowers and wind musicians have it happen accidentally. And some Frenchies apparently made the medical literature by self-inflating their parotids to give their examiners the impression they had mumps (mumps swells up your parotids, making you look like a chipmunk), thus avoiding a career riding around Algeria on camels. [Here](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3868/is_200406/ai_n9450129/) is a link by a guy who knows a lot more about it than I do. It’s hard to be first or unique in medicine with so many goofballs preceding you. Oh yeah; if my presumption is wrong, you have something else going on and are about to die, so none of this is advice or an actual diagnosis. I am a little jealous of your talent. Use it judiciously, as I mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/5 "2010-01-24T15:36:28Z")
Please don’t try to confuse us lay people with all your complicated medical jargon such as “baseline goofy” ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/6 "2010-01-25T03:05:27Z")
This may not directly answer the OP’s question, but it may be related: When I drink orange juice, I swear I get this sudden swelling sensation somewhere in the salivary glands like they’re going to burst. It hurts for an instant or two and then passes. One of my friends says he gets this, too. Not sure what causes it. Perhaps orange juice blocks them for a moment, and they cannot release the saliva? Not trying to hijack, but I wonder if anyone else experiences this? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/7 "2010-01-26T07:41:14Z")
Pedant, I am amazed and delighted by your vast knowledge on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/8 "2010-01-28T22:10:45Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > Nope - I’ve done SCUBA diving and flown in airplanes, I definitely know when my ears are popping; this ain’t it. The sensation is located right behind my jawbone, near the letter e in the word “mandible” in [this picture.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray309.png) FWIW, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I used to play clarinet and would get this somewhat frequency when hitting higher notes. I also used to get it all the time when inflating balloons. It’s a kind of shooty, cold-wet-swelly feeling lancing right behind your jawbone. Fascinating to know that we’re actually inflating our salivary glands. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/9 "2010-01-28T22:26:25Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Pedant, I am amazed and delighted by your vast knowledge on this subject. Thanks. If it is completely useless medical trivia, odds are I’ve squandered a neuron or two filing it away. Don’t ask me to treat your hypertension, though… ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/10 "2010-01-28T23:06:05Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > Nope - I’ve done SCUBA diving and flown in airplanes, I definitely know when my ears are popping; this ain’t it. The sensation is located right behind my jawbone, near the letter e in the word “mandible” in [this picture.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray309.png) Ew, that happens to me when I blow up balloons. I hate that feeling. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-force-air-into-a-salivary-gland/526163/11 "2010-01-28T23:09:23Z")
Yup, I’ve done this more times than I care to remember, usually when blowing up balloons too, though once an air bed. It’s really painful, uncomfortable, and worrying. (Going the other way, I also once gave a girl a hicky and ended up sucking the left half of the roof of my mouth down. I’ve still got a scar there.)