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Dear Gil and all others, Drooling is the result of the inability to get rid of the salive because of poor AUTOMATIC (later perhaps voluntary) swallowing mechanism in PD. The infiltration of the parotid gland with botulinum toxin is pure symptomatic and reduces the amount of saliva in the mouth, thus reducing the drooling. The mechanism is as follows. The botulinum acts locally on the nerve-gland neurotransmission system and acts on the same neurotransmitter as in the nerve-muscle transmission. As you may know botulinum toxin is also used for the treatment of spasticity and dystonia. Best regards, Chris van der Linden, M.D. Movement Disorder Center St. Lucas Hospital Ghent Ghent, BELGIUM