Do Tonsil Stones Cause Bad Breath?
The wife complained of bad breath for months. Even after I brushed my teeth, scraped off my tongue with a tongue scraper and gargled with a mouthwash, my mouth gave off an unpleasant odor as I spoke. You might think I ate raw onions for lunch with such terrible breath and then cloves of garlic for a midnight snack, but I’m pretty hawkish about my oral hygiene and my dental routine. So the bad breath persisted, albeit mysteriously.
However, one day I woke up and noticed a white cap on my right amygdala. My throat and right ear hurt, but I had no other symptoms to indicate that I was really sick. I did a little medical research through Google (which is usually not a good idea) and found, by some miracle, that I really don’t have an infection and no cause for concern.
I didn’t have white pus on my tonsils, but I did have a small calcified sediment stuck in my tonsils, also known as tonsils . You have heard of kidney and gallstones, which are much more painful and severe than what we are about to discuss here. Tonsils are a different animal altogether, but if you’ve been vainly trying to hold back your terrible breath, you may be suffering from one of these annoying little guys.
What are tonsil stones?
Tonsil stones are practically everything that calcifies in the mouth and gets stuck in the fissure of the tonsil. Sometimes they are small pieces of food that you have long forgotten about, that were still in your mouth. However, they can also form from saliva and mucus. It’s not a particularly difficult condition, but according to the Mayo Clinic , here’s how a case of tonsil stones, also known as tonsil stones or tonsil stones, can develop:
Some people have pits and craters in their tonsils that are deep enough for food particles, bacteria, saliva, or mucus to enter. When these substances are pressed into the craters, they eventually turn into tonsil stones.
Also called tonsillitis or tonsils, these stones are usually pastel yellow in color. You can see the stones by looking at the tonsils. But if they form deep in the tissue of the tonsils, the stones may not be visible.
Yes, your tonsils have slits that serve as hidden hiding places for tonsil stones that they can bury inside.
What are the symptoms?
Redness, general pain and discomfort, which can have a sore throat-like sensation (at least in my case). If they are really bad, they can lead to chronic illness that eventually leads to tonsillitis . The predominant symptom is bad breath due to bacteria that have accumulated on them. Considering that these little bastards can get stuck in your tonsils to the point where they sometimes become invisible, it can definitely make your situation worse.
How can I treat them?
If you have severe, resistant tonsil stones that present the double dilemma of dragon breathing and pain, you may want to remove your tonsils. There is a small chance this will actually happen, but if an occasional plaque gets stuck in your tonsil, you can remove it yourself.
As the Mayo Clinic advises:
When stones form, you can remove them by gently pressing down on them with a cotton swab or the back of a toothbrush, or rinsing them with a low pressure water irrigator. You can use this device to direct a gentle jet of water at the craters of your tonsils and wash away any debris that might get into them.
Obviously this can be tricky. Tonsil stones are usually hidden, so you may need to play with them. There are tons ofinstructions onYouTube that are sickeningly satisfying to watch if you want visual instructions on how to remove them.
When I had to remove mine, I tried unsuccessfully to use my toothbrush and almost vomited after gagging myself several times. But later I found that the cotton swab works. Obviously, think about this with your doctor first. You definitely don’t want to put anything in your mouth to choke on.