Techniques such as orthopantomography and ultrasound are usually employed for examination for submandibular calculi, but we have found transverse scanning of the submandibular gland by ultrasound to be safe and rapid. As the mandible and hyoid bone present a shadow there is a margin for possible error, but this technique enables these areas to be seen and thus checked: a submandibular calculus may be seen as a third shadow between the other two. Comparison showed ultrasound to be superior to orthopantomography. If the ultrasound is negative and there is a strong clinical suspicion of a submandibular calculus orthopantomography is the next step to be employed.