Do you feel you’re stuck with something in your throat, and you’re not sure which one it’s? Do you experience a cough every day even though you’re sick and aren’t smoking cigarettes? Do you experience a sour breath but you’re not sure of the reason?
If your response to one or more one of the questions below was yes then you might have tonsilloliths.
This is the medical term used to describe tonsil stones.
I may have WHAT?
Perhaps you’ve heard of kidney stones. They’re small rocks made from the minerals in the kidneys which are extremely painful to get rid of. I’m glad to inform the patient that tonsil stones even though they’re also composed of minerals, don’t make so much of a problem. They’re in for as much discomfort in the removal process.
They are tiny, generally around 1/3 of one gram. They certainly could affect the tissues in your throat.
It is important to note that the majority of people don’t develop this disorder, and we’ll examine the cause of that in the following.
There are two major factors which can lead a person to develop tonsilloliths. One is the number of wrinkles in your tonsils. Tonsils are that tiny piece of flesh that is hung in the back of your mouth, extending over the throat. The majority of people have smooth tonsils, so there’s no place for stones in the tonsils to call home. However, a lesser portion of people were born with more creases in the tonsils. This creates a place for debris to become trapped and stones to form.
The second element that’s required for a person to develop tonsilloliths is the presence of bacteria. The mouth is always stocked with the presence of bacteria in it. Actually, that’s part of the function of the tonsils: to collect the bacteria in the mouth to ensure it does not get to the stomach. However, in the case of tonsilloliths the stones themselves become location for an array of bacteria. Their debris cause bad breath or halitosis. It’s in fact a circular idea that the bacteria responsible for the bad breath could also be the cause of tonsil stone in the initial place.
What to do about them
If you are suffering from the signs which I discussed at the beginning but you aren’t able to spot any white stone-like structures hanging near your tonsils you may have tonsilloliths as they’re not always apparent in front of the mirror. It is possible to visit an ear, nose and throat (ENT doctor) and request an CT scan to figure out the location of the stones that they could be. In the future, your ENT specialist may remove them in an out-patient setting when you’re in some discomfort. But because tonsil stones are usually simply a source of irritation and are definitely not life-threatening, it’s recommended to take a bath with salty water to ease some swelling and pain as the initial option.
There are some who might test this at home, rather than visiting a physician (or in between visits to an acupuncturist). It may be possible to remove the stones on your own using a small piece. It is likely that you won’t injure yourself in this process, however should you experience swelling and pain after you attempt to eliminate your tonsil stones, you need to have an ENT Surgeon to take an exam for them, just to be sure.
It is a condition that can recur even if you’ve had them removed by one of the above methods (gargling or removing them yourself or allowing a medical professional to perform it) it is possible that they will be recurring. Unfortunately. If your life is severely affected by the tonsilloliths in your body and you are required to look after them as a last resort, you might want to have the tonsils removed surgically and it is absolutely impossible for tonsill stones to come back. For ear, nose and throat related issues you can visit the best ENT hospital in Jaipur.
Raj ENT Hospital 