Although salivary gland surgery for benign diseases is an integral part of clinical routine of head and neck surgeons, there is not many population-based data published on incidence and efficiency of this surgery. Parotidectomy was performed in 180 patients and submandibulectomy in 97 patients for benign diseases in eight otorhinolaryngology and two maxillofacial surgery departments in Thuringia, Germany, in 2005. All patients were analysed regarding patients' characteristics, therapy, complications and further course of disease. Predominant indications were epithelial tumours for parotidectomy (79 %) and sialolithiasis for submandibulectomy (50 %). The most frequent tumour types were pleomorphic adenoma (46 %) and Warthin tumours (29 %). Pleomorphic adenoma was significantly more frequent in female patients and Warthin tumours in male patients and smokers. The incidence of parotidectomy, i.e. the surgical rate, was 7.8/100,000 habitants and of submandibulectomy 4.1/100,000 habitants. One hundred and seventy-eight tumours including 154 epithelial tumours resulted in an incidence of 7.6/100,000 habitants for all treated tumours and of 6.6/100,000 for epithelial tumours, respectively. The majority of parotid cases were treated by lateral parotidectomy (79 %). Relevant complications were observed in 22 % of patients. After parotidectomy and submandibulectomy a postoperative facial palsy was observed in 28 and 2 % of cases, respectively. Only 1 % was permanent. During a mean follow-up time of 9.6 months, 3 % of parotidectomy patients developed a Frey's syndrome needing treatment and 0.8 % developed a tumour recurrence. This population-based analysis shows that salivary gland surgery is performed in higher incidence than expected, effectively and with low-risk in daily routine of head and neck surgeons.