â¢ SILICA (noun). The noun SILICA has 1 sense: 1. a white or colorless vitreous insoluble solid (SiO2); various forms occur widely in the earth's crust as quartz or cristobalite or tridymite or lechartelierite.Familiarity information: SILICA used as a noun is very rare.Dictionary entry details.ristobalite (a white mineral consisting of silica; found in volcanic rocks). lechartelierite (a mineral form of vitreous or glassy silica; formed by the melting of quartz sand (as by lightning or a meteorite)).
Besides these glands, there are many tiny glands called minor salivary glands located in your lips, inner cheek area (buccal mucosa), and extensively in other linings of your mouth and throat. Salivary glands produce the saliva used to moisten your mouth, initiate digestion, and help protect your teeth from decay.
The sublingual glands are the smallest major salivary glands and are located anterior to the submandibular glands, also under the jaw. In addition to the major salivary glands, hundreds of minor salivary glands, each about the size of a grain of sand, line the membranes of the inside of the mouth.umors of the parotid glands, the largest salivary glands, have only a 20% likelihood of malignancy, whereas tumors of the minor salivary glands have an 80% likelihood of being malignant. The most common type of benign salivary gland tumor is a benign mixed tumor, or pleomorphic adenoma.