What causes lymph nodes under the chin to swell after eating?

Answer 1

It sounds like it is the lymph nodes in your neck that may be enlarged. These fight off infections. You may be fighting off a cold or something. Your saliva glands sometimes get cysts in their ducts that block saliva drainage. This can be very painful. The smell of food or even brushing your teeth can bring on salivation and swelling of the gland. If you have pain and/or notice swelling see a doctor. He may be able to manupulate and express the cyst. It not, surgery may be indicated to remove the cyst and/or gland.

Answer 2

Sometimes the ducts, or small tubes that run from your salivary glands to the inside of your mouth can become partially or completely blocked. If this is the case, when you eat, salivary glands start producing more and more saliva...the saliva can't exit or exits slowly through the ducts out into your mouth. so what happens when you put water into a balloon and then put a rubber ball in the neck of the balloon....the water can't get out or it might get out, but only slowly... Last night my boyfriend and I came home from shopping, and he said his tongue felt funny, so I looked at it and noticed that one of his submandibular glands were swollen...he said when he pushed on it, it felt like a lot of spit came out, and it tasted funny....so I came home tonight, and he said it felt a little better...so a few minutes ago I wanted to look at it. and he let me. There was a small white ball looking piece on the end of the duct under his tongue. I am a nursing student, and a very curious one at that, so I asked him if I could get some tweezers and pull on it. He said yes, and I proceeded to pull on this thing and he said it didn't hurt, so I pulled a little more, and would you believe it -- I pulled out a little piece of --ummm, something? it was very hard...but the swollen gland has gone down quite a bit, and I'm a little more educated about my salivary glands :-) If ya have any more questions just feel free to ask! when the swelling begins, just try gently rubbing (just a tad of pressure) the gland, and see if you feel a little extra saliva coming out in the mouth...if you feel it coming out then you might only have a small blockage that might come out with time...but if you don't produce any saliva and it continues to swell up, you might want to get that checked out by your primary care physician, because if that saliva is left too long, you can get a bacterial infection. :-)

Answer 3

Lymph nodes usually swell when they are defending against a virus, bacteria, or illness in the body. There are also salivary glands around the chin area that could be confused with lymph nodes. These glands can become partially obstructed and swell during eating and go down after.

Answer 4

I once had a stone in my parotid duct and it caused painful swelling when I ate or even smelled food. It went down later but not all the way back to normal. The doctor made a small slice on the inside of my cheek where the duct empties into my mouth and manipulated the small stone out. The problem was solved.

There was no explanation what caused it or what I could do to prevent it. It seems stones are a mystery as to why the form.

It sounds like this could be the same thing.

HTH

Answer 5

It is an adaptation that humans gained during our long cycle of evolution. If I remember my 6th grade science class correctly, the saliva gland produces enzymes that help break down food before they go to your stomach. The gland swells because of the release of you saliva into the food you are eating.