Did you know that your tonsils can have stones which can cause bad….

september 21, 2013 by eleanor leave a comment

Have you ever heard of tonsil stones? Probably not. They are clusters which form in our tonsillar crypts. Tonsil stones are rare and usually harmless but they can cause bad breath.

source: http://wikihow.com

Tonsillolith forms in the mouth when bacteria decomposes food, stuck in the mouth’s crevice. Tonsil stones are composed by minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and sometimes ammonia and carbonate.

It’s recorded that tonsillolith’s weight may vary from 300 mg to 42 g. Sometimes they don’t even produce any symptoms. Occasionally they may cause bad breath or some pain while swallowing. Other signs of tonsillolith are choking, throat tightening and a metallic taste in the mouth. It is said that tonsil stones are more likely to occur in adulthood rather than in childhood.

However, there’s no need for panic. If you have bad breath it doesn’t necessarily mean you have tonsil stones. The same goes for the opposite. But while surgically removing tonsillolith may be painful, the harm it does is smaller than the one caused by a simple cavity.