Drug Therapeutics Delivery to the Salivary Glands: Intraglandular and Intraductal Injections

Salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia following pathological conditions like Sjogren's syndrome or head and neck radiotherapy usually lead to tremendous impairment of oral health, speech, and swallowing. The use of systemic drugs to alleviate the symptoms of these conditions has been associated with various adverse effects. Techniques of local drug delivery to the salivary gland have grown enormously to address this problem properly. The techniques include intraglandular and intraductal injections. In this chapter, we will provide a review of the literature for both techniques while incorporating our lab experience in using them.