Tuberculous lymph node calcification detected on routine panoramic radiography: a case report.

Cervical lymph node calcification is usually asymptomatic and may be found on a routine panoramic survey. Such calcifications in tuberculosis occur most often after caseation of the node or after treatment. Our patient had lymph node tuberculosis about 50 years ago. On the panoramic radiograph, several massive, irregular, radiopaque masses were detected. These masses were regarded as submandibular cervical lymph node calcifications. We suggest that lymph node tuberculosis may have been due to ingesting milk infected with Mycobacterium bovis, and that both the delay in the diagnosis and the successful treatment was the cause of lymph node calcification.