Dr. Hall,
I had a mercury filling replaced in my bottom back tooth closest to the ear. Now pain develops and radiates into my ear. Before the filling I was experiencing the same discomfort with some earache. My ear is good. The doctor suggested I have a salivary gland stone. I tend to believe it’s a dental problem.
– Bruce from Nova Scotia

Bruce,
A salivary gland stone? That seems like a stretch for your situation.
You can get calicifications in your salivary gland ducts, but the pain would not radiate to your ear. It would be in the soft tissue, in one of your salivary gland ducts, if you had pain. A couple of those ducts are under the tongue, and one is in the middle of each cheek. A salivary gland stone will cause swelling in that duct when you eat and maybe pain, and it would show up on an x-ray.
No, pain radiating to your ear sounds very much like a toothache. And if you have had a recent filling in a lower molar on that side, that would be the first tooth to check.
I would get a second opinion.
– Dr. Hall

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