Skip to content
EasyAnatomyLab
Menu

Parotid gland: anatomy, location and function

The parotid gland is the salivary gland in front of and below each ear. It makes serous saliva, a watery fluid rich in enzymes. It secretes saliva into the mouth. Parasympathetic fibres from the glossopharyngeal nerve, relayed in the otic ganglion and carried by the auriculotemporal nerve, increase secretion.

Loading 3D model…
Skin0%
Muscles100%

Structures

Loading… Click the model or search.

Highlighted in the model: Parotid gland. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The default body is an adult male.

Parotid gland at a glance

What it is
The parotid gland is the salivary gland in front of and below each ear. It makes serous saliva, a watery fluid rich in enzymes.
Location
It reaches from the zygomatic arch above to the angle of the mandible and the sternocleidomastoid below, and from the masseter in front to the ear behind. Its duct (Stensen's duct) crosses the masseter, pierces the buccinator and opens into the mouth near the upper second molar.
Function
It secretes saliva into the mouth. Parasympathetic fibres from the glossopharyngeal nerve, relayed in the otic ganglion and carried by the auriculotemporal nerve, increase secretion.
Body system
Digestive · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA59790 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • The facial nerve divides into its five terminal branches inside the gland.
  • The external carotid artery and the retromandibular vein also run through it.

Clinical relevance

Most parotid tumours are benign. In parotid surgery the facial nerve and its branches must be found and preserved, because damage paralyses the muscles of facial expression.

Structures next to the parotid gland

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Parotid gland (FMA59790). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. TeachMeAnatomy. The Parotid Gland.
  3. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §23.1 Overview of the Digestive System. Rice University, 2022.
  4. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
  5. Browne K., Schlehlein H. (2026). 3D Reference Organ Set for Male, v1.10 (Visible Human Male). Human Reference Atlas 3D Reference Object Library, HuBMAP / NIH. CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.