If anyone has had a problem like this, please let me know. My daughter, age 18, has her tonsils. Last evening she tells me that sometimes she feels as though there is something stuck in the back of her throat, by her tonsils. Then she shows me a small ball that she has picked out of the left side tonsil. She said it has a bad smell, but she kinda like sucks it out. She did the same thing this morning, it looks like the white part of a cooked egg,the size of minced garlic,best description. I looked in her throat with a flash light, and saw a small hole or pocket in her tonsil, where this stuff is coming from. What is wrong? Is this serious? I'm making an appointment with the ENT doctor this morning, but would like some info first. I'm upset about this, she starts college in the summer and don't want her to have any serious problems with this.Please help, asap.

i forget what they're called but your tonsils have small craters in them and little pieces of food get stuck in them over a period of time and you can feel them....most people pick them out and they do smell funky....theyre nothing exciting but annoying and odiferous.........good luck at the drs.

Thanks so much Ozark, as it turns out, the ENT Dr. can't see us for another 2 wks. My daughter was telling her friend at school today, and here her friend has the same exact thing. The doctor told her there is nothing to worry about, that it must have come from a previous infection, and sometimes craters or holes form, but no medicine will help, only to gargle with mouthwash often. I never had problems like this when she was young, I guess ya never know..Thanks again for your reply.

the white things are actually a type of cyst.. they're harmless but they are disgusting..
i had tonsilitis and i had those things for three years until i got a tonsilectomy earlier this year..
i've had no problems, no cysts or infections since.. and recovering from a tonsilectomy really isn't that bad..
i think those cysts can be a sign of the tonsils being prone to infection, and maybe (tho you may not need it) discuss a tonsilectomy for her with your doctor..
i was 18 when i had mine out..
if you want a firsthand account of what goes on in the hospital and how the recovery goes i'd be happy to let you know..

I've always had these things in the back of my throat, too, and i proceeded to find out what they were. This is something that i read off of tonsilstones.com, hope it helps!: They are irregularly shaped, whitish/yellow, foul-smelling globs of mucous and bacteria that get caught in the tonsils. They form in the "tonsil crypts" which are simply small pockets or divots that appear in everyones tonsils. The scientific term for them is "tonsilloliths"...but they are more commonly called "tonsil stones". Many people have reported that their dentists have told them this is food debris, but this is NOT TRUE. Tonsil Stones don't do any physical harm, and sporadically coughing them up doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with you. However they can be annoying.(who wants to cough one up when they are kissing someone!), and sometimes they are an indication that you have bad breath. If you have ever broken open one of those white tonsilloliths, then you know that they smell absolutely terrible! What you are smelling is actually a combination of volatile sulfur compounds(Methyl Mercaptan and Hydrogen Sulfide), post nasal drip, and bacteria (no wonder it smells so bad!)

I have read and found that gargling with a strong mouth wash, such as Listerine, has helped to prevent them. When i have a cold, a stuffy nose or a post nasal drip, i tend to get them more often. So, during this time you should probably gargle more often. Otherwise, they are just a harmless bunch of little smelly annoyances that everyone has to get used to. hope this helped, bye!


------------------
--drynking mercury

If calcified, its called a tonsilolith [tonsil stone] There is a Water Pik attachment that can be used to flush them out. See:
http://health.iafrica.com/doconline/qa/respiratory/tonsiloliths.htm White Stones in the Tonsils
http://www.ofcn.org/cyber.serv/hwp/hwc/ent/news/ent316.html
"Another method of removing difficult debris from tonsillar crypts is to use a water pik and irrigate the tonsil vigorously with a dilute salt water solution. Rarely tonsillar debris will become calcified (known as a tonsillolith) and if symptomatic, may require removal in a physician's office"
----------------------- http://www.teeth---whitening.com/tonsil-stones.html