Warning for those with annoying tonsil stones. - Ear, Nose & Throat Message Board

slimseeker · 04-05-2006, 01:00 PM

hi,

I wanted to warn you who as me have these annoying tonsil stones. I read on these boards that some use a waterpik to remove them from your tonsil. Well, I went out and bought one and last night the pressure slashed my tonsil that it bled quite a bit. I was scared lol. The lower and med. settings didn't do enough to remove it, but on high it blasted quite a slash through my tonsil..so be careful out there in those many attempts we do to remove them

Anyone reading this with tonsil stones, I 'd appreciate any advice to remove them safely. I have read about rinses online you can buy but they're expensive. I started salt water rinses yesterday. So any advice would be appreciated.

As far as the waterpik idea... DO NOT TRY THiS AT HOME

LOL

Hugs
SS

twizliz · 04-05-2006, 02:02 PM

I was wondering if you could clarify what exactly tonsil stones were?

2catfans · 04-05-2006, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twizliz

I was wondering if you could clarify what exactly tonsil stones were?

According to my ENT, "tonsil stones are particles of food that get caught in the crevices of large tonsils. The particles of food causes bacteria to grow and the particle gets larger. Because the 'stones' cause bacteria to grow, your immune system starts to fight the infection, then the stones are dislodged, usually naturally by the body, however your immune system is still fighting the infection. Just about the time your immune system if finished, another food particle, from your next meat, gets lodged in the crevices of the tonsil again and the whole procedure starts again. Manually dislodging or removing these particle is not recommended as you can cause severe injury to your tonsils", as stated by the person using the water pic.

tonsilfamily · 04-05-2006, 11:10 PM

The night before my tonsillectomy, what would be my very last tonsil stone came rolling out of my mouth!
I literally almost said "HA!" right out loud in the store, as in "Ha! No more of you nasty little tonsil stones after the tonsils go!"

Grunt117 · 04-05-2006, 11:57 PM

The best method for removing tonsil stones is an "irrigator." That's all I know to call it. For anyone whose ever had their wisdom teeth removed, you should know what I'm talking about . . . it's a small plastic tube that you fill with water and then squirt the water out the narrow tip. This irrigator is given to wisdom teeth patients so that they can remove food and stuff that gets stuck in the holes where their wisdom teeth once were . . . and it works great for cleaning out deep tonsil crypts.

I have never used a waterpik, but from what I understand waterpiks are reckless and you can't "aim" with them like you can with an irrigator from wisdom tooth surgery.

I have found that Q-tips, toothpicks, and any other "poking and prodding" objects will ONLY remove tonsil stones on the surface of your tonsils. Believe me, I've put more pressure on my tonsils than I thought humanly possible, but the tonsil stones I can see deep in my crypts do not dislodge upon palpitation with a Q-tip.

The dental irrigator works the best because you can shoot water at fairly high pressure DIRECTLY into the crypt and send the tonsil stones flying. Unfortunately my irrigator broke after a year, and you can't buy them in stores (at least I can't find them anywhere). So now I only have Q-tips and an oral thermometer at my disposal, which don't work very well at dislodging stones.

Bleeding is a risk we take when picking at our tonsils to remove stones. Mine have bled on many occassions, but unlike a tonsillectomy, my bleeding usually stops instantaneously or simply oozes for a while . . . nothing to worry about.

Tonsils suck.