If you’ve had problems with your tonsils before, then you might have experienced or have the potential to experience tonsil stones. What exactly are tonsil stones? Well let’s start off with defining what tonsils are in the first place. Tonsils are our body’s natural defense against bacteria – the tonsils act as a barrier or a filter to be more precise and filter out bacteria, preventing them from entering the body. But sometimes the tonsils may do you more bad than good in terms of its main function. Since it filters out the bacteria from entering the body, they get stuck on the sides, and may start an infection.
Oftentimes, these won’t harm you but there are times when these could mix with other things that are stuck within the nooks and crannies of the tonsils and solidify into what we call tonsil stones. Tonsil stones are hard, white pieces of materials that are actually a collection of mucous, dead cells and other materials that get stuck on our tonsils. This doesn’t just happen to anyone but there’s a good chance that it could happen to you.
You may be wondering what happens when a person has tonsil stones; well, nothing actually. They can be left as how they are but there are things that make tonsil stones rather a big hindrance on our daily lives. First is how they smell – the most notable thing aside from the white debris is the stench associated with tonsil stones. Since they’re made up of random debris, there’s a good chance they’ll smell bad and since they’re stuck on the tonsils, you might get stuck with having bad breath unless they get removed which is the reason how tonsil stones got their name “stink balls”.
As if that’s not enough reason to treat tonsil stones, a person who has it may also have difficulty in swallowing, a strange metallic taste in the mouth and several instances of sore throat. For that matter, if you have tonsil stones and experience such symptoms, you’d be sure that you want to get rid of it as soon as possible.
So how does one treat tonsil stones? It’s never easy but you could actually use a swab and nudge it until it comes off but that is quite dangerous as it could hit a blood vessel which could cause an infection. Instead, you could ask the help of a professional as they can be removed safely through surgery.