So Now I Know They Are Tonsil Stones

Ive wanted to start a blog for some time but I have never really had anything to share but have always thought about having my own little corner of the Internet. Today it came to me that I could actually share something useful (although gross) which people might be interested in, my tonsil stone experience (and the accompanying breath).

I think tonsil stones are a pretty common ailment but as a child of the 80s it wasn’t until the Internet went mainstream that most people managed to (usually self) diagnose them and work out what was going on at the back of their mouths.

For me tonsil stones, while I didn’t know the name, have always been something I would regard as normal. I first encountered them as a child, I cant remember exactly when but it was not uncommon as a child to find one of the pellets, as I used to call them, floating around in my mouth. This has happened for so long that I never found it unusual.
As a child with tonsil stones I didn’t worry about the smell, hygiene or anything else, I would spit them out, sometimes I would take them in my hand and play with them and other times I would swallow or chew them.
Because of the texture, size and general appearance of the stones as a child I was sure that they had something to do with rice!

Moving on as I reached a teenager I because aware that the stones, especially the larger ones stunk but I didn’t have any idea where they came from. I would seem to go months without producing a stone and then I could find three in a week. I did mention finding these stones to my dentist who said it was nothing to worry about and dismissed it and also to my parents who claimed to have no idea what I was talking about and told me to go to the doctor.

Even in my twenties I did not have any idea that these little lumps of bacteria were coming from my tonsils, I assumed that it was food that I had somehow discovered in my mouth. I had never “examined” my tonsils in a mirror or even poked around back there with my tongue. Having done my research around bad breath, tonsils, treatments and cure I did find that a lot of people did discuss that they found stones uncomfortable and found they caused problems. Aside from the smell I never had any of these problems.

In my late twenties and early thirties, when I finally graduated and started training as a oral hygienist there was still no discussion on these stinking stones, however, with the Internet in full force I was finally able to do my own research into the matter, it didn’t find long to come across some open discussion about the matter.
The great thing about the Internet, when it comes to the human body and conditions, is that people are willing to use the level of anonymity it provides to openly discuss conditions that they would not otherwise talk about.
Basically the biggest discovery for me was simply the name, once I found out that these little things were called tonsil stones or their medical name of Tonsilloliths it allowed me to carry out a whole world or research and more or less become an expert. Lots of people are dismissive of “self diagnosis” and people who use the Internet as a resource to understand conditions that they are challenge with, however, having had medical training I can say that an intelligent person with the Internet is about as capable of diagnosing themselves as the GP is with the 5 minute window in which they are allocated to assess your symptoms.

No one knows why we have tonsils for sue, there are lots of theories and assumptions and second guesses with the most popular one been that they exist as a trap for bacteria but anyone who says for sure that they know what the tonsils does is not telling the truth.

As a child I used t think that the tonsil was simply that upside down apostrophe that you see in cartoon characters mouths, however, there is a lot more to it than that:

 

Once I typed the words “tonsil stones” into google I was pleased to see the number of suggested terms that meant a lot of people must have been researching the same things as I was:

• Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones Removal
• Tonsil Stones Smell
• Tonsil Stones Bad Breath
• Tonsil Stones Treatment
• Tonsil Stones Prevention NHS
• Tonsil Stones At Back Of Throat
• Tonsil Stones And Bad Breath
• Tonsil Stones Ear Ache
• How To Remove Tonsil Stones
• Dissolve Tonsil Stones Vinegar
• How To Dissolve Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones Mayo Clinic
• How To Prevent Tonsil Stones
• Cleaning Out Tonsil Crypt Stones
• Natural Cure For Tonsil Stones
• Deep Tonsil Stones Ear Pain
• Get Rid Of Tonsil Stones Naturally
• Vinegar Gargle For Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones Apple Cider Vinegar
• Single White Spot On Tonsil
• Tonsil Stone Removal Tool
• Instrument To Remove Tonsil Stones
• How To Get Rid Of Tonsil Stones
• How To Remove Tonsil Stones At Home
• How To Cure Tonsil Stones At Home
• Get Rid Of Tonsil Stones
• Natural Remedies For Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones Home Remedies
• How To Prevent Tonsil Stones From Forming
• How To Get Rid Of Swollen Tonsils
• How To Reduce Tonsil Inflammation
• Tonsil Stones
• Signs Of Bad Tonsils
• Causes Of Tonsil Stones
• How To Prevent Tonsil Stones Naturally
• Tonsil Stone Patient Handout
• Treatment For Tonsil Stones
• Essential Oil For Tonsil Stones
• Mayo Clinic Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones In Kids
• Tonsil Stones Causing Ear Pain
• Ear And Tonsil Pain
• Tonsil Stones And Ear Problems
• Sore Throat And Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones Ent
• Tonsil Stones Cause Ear Problems
• Allergies And Tonsil Stones
• Peppermint Oil For Tonsil Stones
• Apple Cider Vinegar For Tonsils
• What Are Tonsil Stones
• Acv Tonsil Stones
• Tonsil Stones How To Remove
• Tonsil Stones What Causes Them
• Swollen Tonsils White Spots No Fever
• One White Spot On Tonsil
• White Spots On Throat No Pain
• Single White Spot In Throat
• White Spots On Tonsils No Fever
• Sore Throat With White Spots No Fever
• White Patches Back Of Throat
• White Spot On Tonsil

The number of searches is also at an all-time high and climbing still:

The thing that immediately caught my interest was that tonsil stones were associated with ear ache, as a child I was plagued by ear pain and at I would put money on the fact that the GP that I saw at least 40 times had no idea what tonsil stones were or that they could be effecting my ears! If the Internet was a developed as it was today maybe I would never had to put up with so much ear pain as a child!

Now I Knew What I Was Dealing With

After reading a little about tonsil stones I explored the back of my mouth with my tongue more than I ever had done before, really pushing it around and exploring the creases and cavities in my tonsils.
My Dad used to always say to me that “you know your own body” and I never really appreciated that expression until now, there was a whole world at the back of my mouth I was unaware of.

Daily Routine

It is now part of my daily routine to poke around my tonsils, usually as soon as I wake up before I get out of bed and see if a stone has appeared. I am usually able to poke the stones out with my tongue if they are a decent size, however, some of the smaller ones can be far more problematic, I would say I can probably get them all out but it can take a long, long time when they are smaller.
After becoming familiar with my tonsils and the way the stones form I have realised that my left tonsil is much more holey than the right site and that when I get a stone 90% of the time it forms on the left.
I am not sure why but I would assume that the increased folders and dents in the left side mean that there is more room for bacteria to breed, your tonsils are not even close to symmetrical!

Becoming Obsessed With My Tonsils

I never like to know a little about something, when I find that I have a problem or take an interest in something part of me makes me study it in detail and that is exactly what happened here. I noticed after pressing the tip of my tongue into my tonsil a few times then licking my finder and smelling it that the stench that I had long associated with tonsil tones was also lingering on my tonsils, at this point I decided to investigate cleaning my tonsils.
There is no proof of this but I strongly suspect that having clean tonsils will reduce the amount of bacteria that can form and breed and therefore reduce the likelihood of a stone forming, my personal theory is that eliminating bacteria and having clean tonsils will eliminate bad breath and stop the stones form forming. So far this theory has worked for me but once again, just to stress, I only have my own experience to go on here, no science to back it up!

Cleaning The Tonsils

Ive basically tried three ways of doing this:

• Mouthwash
• Rubbing my toothbrush on the tonsil after cleaning my teeth
• Squirting a solution of half mouthwash and half water onto my tonsil from a needless syringe

The Mouthwash

Mouthwash was one of the easiest ways to clean my tonsils given that I travel a lot, I am not going to write a patronising paragraph explaining to you how to rinse your mouth out with mouthwash but I will say to make sure you tilt your head back and allow the mouthwash to splash around the tonsils.

Rubbing a Toothbrush On The Tonsils

This was the least pleasant of the three and I found that my tonsils actually started to bleed for a few minutes. The next day the tonsil was extremely swollen, however, as it was swollen it closed the cracks and cavities in the tonsil and forced some of the stones to pop out.

A Squirting Syringe

This was my preferred method as it was a bit of a gimmick and something I had never done before. I think I got my tonsils the cleanest this way as I did the test where I pressed my tongue against it a few times and smelt it and the smell was actually quite fresh!

Other Methods I Did Not Want To Try

With the exception of the addition of mouthwash I didn’t want to try anything too extreme as I do believe that the back of your mouth can to an extent take care of itself, I wanted to make sure that about all I got rid of tonsil stones naturally. I also want to make sure that I was able to do this at home, I wasn’t going to involve anyone else. Over the next few days, or hours if I have another motivational burst I will make a few more posts detailing my tonsil stone experience and some of the crazy things I read online that I definitely did not want to try!
Please feel free to post any comments or questions below.