Tonsil Stone Remedies
In order to talk about tonsil stone remedies, we must first understand exactly what tonsils and tonsil stones are.
Tonsils are small flaps of flesh located on either side of your throat, just beyond the back of your tongue. These flaps are actually gland tissue, meant to trap bacteria and viruses and help fight infection. However, the tonsils also tend to collect small bits of food and mucous too, and when combined with sulfur-producing bacteria infection may occur.
When these materials become lodged on the flaps of the tonsils, they can eventually harden and compact, forming what we refer to as tonsil stones. One of the telltale signs of tonsil stones is a strong fecal odor eliminating from the back of the throat. Particularly bad breath may be an early signal of the presence of tonsil stones.
Once formed, what is the remedy for tonsil stones? Surprisingly, tonsil stones may actually be ejected by a good coughing spell, but this happens less often than one would wish, and is no guarantee that the tonsil stones won’t reoccur.
A probiotic culture known as acidophilus may have a beneficial effect on tonsil stones. Acidolphilus consists of the good bacteria that helps us maintain a healthy digestive track. Acidophilus keeps down the anaerobic, or bad, bacteria along with naturally occurring yeast. This largely homeopathic remedy may help to break down the tonsil stones and work to prevent new tonsil stones from forming. Recommended dosages and results vary, so check with your doctor first. Acidophilus is readily available at health food stores.
Today, antibiotics are usually tried first as a remedy for tonsil stones. Again, this has varying degrees of effect on the tonsil stones and largely depends on how advanced the tonsil stones have become.
Surgery may still be the most effective remedy for tonsil stones, even though tonsillectomies are not the common place childhood surgery they once were. A tonsillectomy involves the removal of the infected tonsils from the throat. Surgical removal of the tonsils should be carefully considered before going ahead. The tonsils are part of the body’s immune system, and though they have the chance of recovery from infection or tonsil stones, once gone they are no longer there to help filter bacteria and viruses.
Remedies for tonsil stones have varying degrees of success, and your physician is the most qualified person to determine a course of action to remove tonsil stones.
Pages: [3] 2 1 » Show All
i get these a couple times a month. the other morning i woke up, and a whole bunch came out. i felt so nasty, but i wanted them to keep coming so they would all go away. i find the best thing is to shoot water at my tonsils with a water pick. and it doesnt hurt like pressing on your tonsils. but they keep coming back. im tired of it. by reading threads, it sounds like some people eventually stop getting them… i hope thats me soon!
recently i had an edoscopy done and was diagnosed with H.Pylori which is a bacteria in your stomache. i’ve heard that tonsil stones has something to do with what’s going on in your digestive tract. I am taking medication for the infection and so far have not had any breath issues or stones. it’s still too early to tell but, doing and endoscopy helps. if you don’t want to do that, i read online that there’s some tests your doctor can give you to see if you have H. Pylori.
I have had tonsil stones about 10 years ago and now have them back again. I have had a sore throat for a month now and thought it was due to having Gerd.While in bed last evening one just popped out and into my mouth and I was not aware that I even had them back again. So can anyone tell me can someone have tonsil stones and not be able to visually see them when just looking at the tonsils?
Yes, My tonsil stones are never visible, but I can always feel something, and figure it is a tonsil stone. I just push on my tonsils and usually it will pop out.
So how is everyone now? How successful have been your treatments? I’m about to purchase the Thera Breath treatment and a water pik. I’ve been squeezing them out with my fingers but recently I scratched one of my tonsils and now have an infection. My throat is killing me. I need to find something where I don’t have to squeeze them out anymore.
I know the feeling,been getting them for 30 years now. But I use a q tip. push on them and they pop out. gross I know, but can’t sleep with them there. looking for way to smooth out tonsil so they don’t have a big hole in throat.
I was told that you can get a metal filling in the “crypts” of your tonsils.
i have this problem and thought i was the only one, found this site while looking for something else, i have recently been on an antibiotic for unrelated problem and found that the “stones” are gone and i usually do use a long qtip to dislodge them sometimes it works, now though i’ve taken acidophilus due to antibiotics and the stones are gone but one tonsil is all red and ear hurts. dr. said on phone, maybe it’s viral, since on antibs. any ideas. thank you
I think I have finally found out what the cause of my bad breath has been for all these years (at least 50 - yes, I am that old). I’ve been fighting this problem for most of my life. Looking back, I think it started when I was about 12 and got a really nasty case of strep throat - not the 1st case by a long shot, though. I even ended up with an inflammation in my mouth. Anyway, my first question is: how can you guys brush, etc. your tonsils without gagging to the point of pain, to say nothing about just SEEING what you’re doing? I am more than willing to try your recommendations, so please let me know.
can anyone tell me where to buy those water-pick or sprayer thing? thanks for those who will respond..
I have had these since I was a child (39 now). My mom used to touch the tip of a sharp pencil to the stone and it would come out. We of course had no idea what they were called. In the past couple of years they’ve gotten worse. My most successful removal method is to gargle (which seems to loosen them) and even if I don’t see anything, I start pressing with my finger tip. When I start to see something I do this little cough thing over the sink. I have had as many has 30 pieces dislodge in one session this way. I gargle with salt water afterward to try and rinse any small pieces that may be loose but not visible.
what can we gargle with other than salt water, that is irritating to me. and since on antibiotic for other problem eating yogurt with acidophilus and/or taking capsules of, “stones” are gone but left tonsil red and raw. one thing helps and hurts another. i’m trying to gargle rinse with warm water alone, but i’m tired of living with a flashlight pointed at my throat to see what is going on and i’m a lot older than you are, someone recommended a water pik to shoot water at these stones, i don’t think water will dislodge mine, long qtip things sometimes, this is awful. thanks for acknowledging i’m not the only one, i found this site looking for something else, so i know i’m meant to be here for help. thanks
recently i had an edoscopy done and was diagnosed with H.Pylori which is a bacteria in your stomache. i’ve heard that tonsil stones has something to do with what’s going on in your digestive tract. I am taking medication for the infection and so far have not had any breath issues or stones. it’s still too early to tell but, doing and endoscopy helps. if you don’t want to do that, i read online that there’s some tests your doctor can give you to see if you have H. Pylori.
I get them when I stay up past 1:00am, but not if I get to bed a little earlier. Try going to bed before midnight.
I just got my first one of these over the weekend. I had my tonsils out when I was 3 and have never had a problem till I noticed a feeling of something stuck in the back of my throat. I noticed a little white nodule! I puled out a tonsil stone with my toothbrush last night. I have been chewing a lot of gum lately and I wonder if that, causing my mucus membraines to work overtime might have caused the problem.
I eat yogurt EVERY DAY so I doubt that method will be my saving grace.
I am going to try to cut back on the gum chewing and use mouth wash morning and night to see if I can keep from getting another one of these.
Once is enough!
I have been diagnosed with Meneires disease from three different ENT doctors. Although I do not get dizzy until those little bastards (tonsil stones)make my tonsil sore. I believe that these stones have alot to do with my ear problem althought the ENTs state no.I never had this problem until I went to the family doctor to get an updated tetnus shot since I had not had one for over 21 years and thought that since my husband and myself just bought a 75 year old house and gutted it getting an upted shot was the answer. I constantly have a sore tonsil on the side of the throat I had the tetnus shot on. I, too, feel much better when the stone comes out as my tonsil doesn’t feel swollen and my hearing improves. My doctor just pushes me aside when I explaine my theories and symptoms. Boy when they come out it is like Mount St. Helens eruppted and the smell is so strong. I am just glad that other people have the simular problems that I have had and I am not crazy.
I’ve also been diagnosed with Meneires disease and drink a lot of milk as well. I’m curious if there’s a link between them too. I’ve also read that drinking tea can increase their occurrence. I had a flare up of tonsil stones this week and noticed that for the week prior I’d been laying off the milk. But I did start drinking milk again this week and even had some tea. So I’m curious now if the week without, then the sudden increase of milk along with the tea might have caused a flare up.
I also take zinc which is one of the few anti bacterial/viral minerals out there. I was also not taking it regularly during the week prior so it may not have been protecting me and also contributed to the flare up.
I think these things might help reduce these tonsil stones:
1. Increase zinc
2. reduce or eliminate milk and dairy products
3. Try eliminating tea
4. use hydrogen peroxide as a mouth rinse and gargle
5. brush your tongue when you brush your teeth
6. Try garlic to see if it helps
7. Drink more water
8. Sleep more
9. Keep your hands/fingers out of your mouth
10. Wondering if my yogurt is increasing the problem? Yogurt is another kind of bacteria and I wonder if it gets in the pockets and builds up and actually causes the problem?
11. Wonder if my alcohol based Listerine causes the start of these as the alcohol in it dries out the throat. (I don’t drink alcohol).
12. Wondering if the salt water thing will help. It should.
13. Water pik seems fun. I’ll give that a try.
14. Water with lemon in it might help alkanize the blood and keep it at bay by keeping the immune system balanced and healthier.
15. Vinegar in water definitely helps my throat heal and feel better. I think this one helps a ton.
16. I’ve also liked using the over the counter medicine called “Airborne” as it has zinc and vitamin C. I recommend this stuff to everyone I know along with the Zinc cough drops called “Cold Eeze”. I use these anytime I feel like I’m coming down with a cold to prevent actually getting sick. Works every time for me so far these past two years. I combine this with 15-20 minutes in the sauna as a kind of ‘fake fever’ and it kills off whatever is attacking me at the time and I don’t get sick. So far this has worked like a charm every time so far.
But like I said I went off my zinc last week along with dairy and exercise and I got the tonsil stones this week after going back on milk.
Hope this helps you all. Wished more people would actually share what is working for them like I did above instead of just explaining that “I’ve got those too!” I’m beyond knowing that it’s common. I want a cure!
More people should list their age, sex, dairy consumption, etc., when describing their symptoms as it’ll help us categorize and see better trends in who has the problem.
Hope this helps some of you.
how would garlic help? i eat too much ice cream/dairy, do you really think this is causing or adding to the “stones”? I’m over 55 years of age and have always had giant tonsils, but for past several years have the “stones” and never knew what they were called, dr. says food gets stuck. my question….why are they almost always white? thanks
How can I get rid of bad odor from toncil/throat without surgical treatment? If there is any one, able to help me truly with the problem, Please do help me.
Nothing I try is curing this condition. I noticed my first stone when I was 9 years old……I was @ disney world sipping on a coca cola and soon after I finished my drink - I kind of cough it up. After that I don’t remember it being a problem until college roughly about 10 yrs later and now within the past 3 yrs it has been the worst - I probably get a stone out at least once a week, but the just keep coming back week after week. I too have tried therabreath, but it didn’t cure it……..One thing that I picked up is that gargling for 90 secs helps a lot but I’d rather use a solution of peroxide than the mouthwashes therabreath sell.
Age: 30
Sex: Male
Dairy Consumption: don’t drink milk, but I eat cheese on almost everything. I’ve been thinking about going a month or two without eating cheese.
I wonder if there is a link between tonsil stones and allergies - people may have more problems with allergies in certain regions of the country that others - just a thought.
i couldn’t figure out why my break smelled so bad for YEARS until i found these little stink bombs. i was petrified.. told my dr.. he shrugged and said its normal, i was like WELL HOW THE HELL DO I GET RID OF MY STINKY BREATH.. he said chew gum…. since then, i think he is worst dr EVER! … if i were a dr. i would tell ppl about using a waterpik and using Therabreath…. sheesh
use a waterpik and jet them out. its the best way to make sure they ALL come out … even the deep embedded ones. Then use thera breath nasal spray or throat spray .. that stuff kills the sulphur causing bacteria.. and you will be fine… use the waterpik once or twice a month and use the spray every other day.
Works like charm
Your so funny, my doctors are exactly the same. they may want to walk around with smelly breath but i do not.
YOU ARE VERY FUNNY. You Know I’ve had this stinky white balls on my throat for over 2 years now. It is really annoying and disgusting..Anyways, thanks for the tip. I wil try it.
I get tonsil stones from time to time, at first I just thought it was food lodged in my tonsils but after realizing they are tonsil stones I have been on a mission to get rid of them, and prevent them. Here are a few ideas to prevent and get rid of tonsil stones:
1. Buy a tongue scraper and when you brush your teeth scrape the bacteria off your tongue. Tongue scrapers are about 2 dollars and are available in the toothbrush aisle just about everywhere.
2. Buy Thera Breath oral rinse it is about $10 and available at Shoppers Drug Mart, simply use it as you would use any mouthwash. Thera Breath rinse bubbles in your mouth and cleans deep, make sure to gargle the solution so it gets inside your tonsils. This mouthwash not only seems to help loosen and prevent tonsil stones it makes my mouth feel cleaner than Scope or Listerine ever have.
3. A cheap bargain brand nasal spray is about $3 it cleared out my sinuses and also seemed to loosen the tonsil stones. If nothing else i was sure breathing easy afterwards.
4. To remove a tonsil stone skip the Q-Tip they are too big and just hurt when you try to fit them in your tonsil. Instead clean a pair of tweezers and insert them into the tonsil the tweezers have a curved end and pull the stone out much easier than an Q-Tip