Submental nodes

At a glance

English

Submental nodes

Latin (TA2)

Nodi submentales

System

Lymphatic

Region

Head

Side

Paired, left and right

About the submental nodes

The submental nodes lie in the submental triangle, the small midline area under the chin bounded on each side by the anterior belly of digastric and below by the body of the hyoid bone. Its floor is formed by the two mylohyoid muscles. There are usually two to four nodes, lying in the fat under the skin and platysma, close to the midline. Older texts call them the suprahyoid nodes.

Being central, they receive lymph from structures that cross or lie in the midline, and each side of the group can collect from both halves of the chin and lip. The submandibular nodes lie just lateral, on the other side of each digastric belly.

The group drains the middle of the lower lip, the skin of the chin, the front of the floor of the mouth, the lower incisor teeth and gums, and the tip of the tongue. Its outflow passes partly to the submandibular nodes and partly to the deep cervical chain, mainly to the jugulo-omohyoid node, which lies on the internal jugular vein roughly level with of the cricoid cartilage.

In surgical staging this is level IA of the neck. A tender node under the chin often follows an infected lower front tooth or a lip sore. Cancers of the central lower lip, the anterior floor of the mouth, plus the tip of the tongue may spread to these nodes on both sides, so both sides of the neck are assessed. Because the tip of the tongue drains low into the neck, a cancer there can skip the upper nodes.

Course and drainage

Begins at

Afferent vessels from the central lower lip, the chin, the front of the floor of the mouth, the lower incisor gums and the tip of the tongue.

Drains into

Efferent vessels pass partly to the submandibular nodes and partly to the jugulo-omohyoid node of the deep cervical chain, opposite the cricoid cartilage.

Drains

Filters lymph from the midline of the lower face and front of the mouth. Spread from central lip, floor-of-mouth and tongue-tip cancers can reach both sides, and infection of the lower front teeth enlarges them.