I've had those white spots on my tonsil for over 10 years. They came and went. I have never noticed that they immediately respond to antibotics or antifungal medications. I have read that they are related to food getting caught in pockets in your tonsil. But I no longer believe that is true or reasaonable.
I have watch my spots develop very carefully and it is now clear that these spots begin under the skin of my tonsil and slowly work there way out like a blood blister does on your finger. I think these tonsil stones are actually dead cells that have calcified because your tonsil has been fighting an infection. When they break onto the surface some food particles stick to them, but I think that is just incidental. If you break them open they are soft and sometimes smelly just like the stuff you sometimes get out of a rather large zit that is healing over.
In both cases I think they are the debri of a fight your body had with an infection. I had a 10 year battle with tonsil infections that finally stopped when it was discovered I had low thyroid and my immune system was screwed up. Since that time, my tonsil has been slowly shrinking in size and as it does so I get many of these white spots coming out of the tonsil. When the spot drops off, it often leaves a hole that goes some considerable distance into my tonsil. That hole slowly closes and disappears.
So if you have those white spots I think it represents an infection that you had or currently have. If your tonsil is even the least bit swollen then you need to first have your thyroid checked to make sure you have a normal immune system and then to on some long term antibiotic like doxycyline for a month or more to kill and eliminate what ever infection is causes your problem.
In my case I had to take 3 different antibiotics (penicillin, zithromax and cephalexin) one after the other followed by 3 months of Sulfatrim and an antifungal to kill the yeast that started from all those antibiotics. But my infection is clearly gone now and as my tonsil steadily shrinks it is showing more and more of those white spots. Which I think is a good thing because it is the residue of past infections.
I should also add that in a recent medical journal report "Acta Otorrinolaringol Esp. 2002 Mar;53(3):207-10. [Report of a case: large tonsillolith in palatine tonsil] Cogolludo Perez FJ". It stated that a 69-year-old woman presented with a one-year history of tonsil stones. Computerized Tomography scan showed a big calcified lesion inside the tonsil not seen from the outside. A tonsillectomy was performed and a giant tonsillolith was found inside the resected piece.
I think this is the first time computer tomography has shown these tonsil stones "inside" the tonsil.
Hope it helps.
[This message has been edited by orion (edited 07-14-2003).]
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