If you're having difficulty removing tonsil stones at home, or you just feel uncomfortable doing it yourself, then your dentist can help. Dentists usually remove tonsil stones with a professional air or water syringe, or with a simple tongue depressor. Mild or moderate tonsil stones can usually be easily removed without medical treatment. Many people gently dislodge them with a toothbrush, cotton swab, or dental floss with water, followed by gargling with warm salt water to remove any remaining debris. Your dentist may recommend a tonsillectomy if you continue to have tonsil stones.
But, of course, this is only necessary if the stones cause recurrent tonsillitis. Tonsil stones often dissolve on their own, are thrown out by coughing or swallowing, and no treatment is needed. Removing tonsil stones at home is generally not recommended because tonsils are delicate tissues and bleeding and infection can occur if stones are not removed carefully. Patients who have postnasal drip, allergies, or colds are more prone to tonsil stone formation due to mucus in the back of the throat. It would be best if you were careful to brush, floss, and gargle with salt water frequently, either to remove tonsil stones or prevent them.
It's less extreme than a tonsillectomy, but most dentists don't recommend it unless tonsil stones seriously affect your life. Tonsil stones can last for weeks if bacteria continue to grow on the tonsils due to stones in the tonsils deep in the throat. As long as tonsillitis remains in the back of the throat, tonsil stones may continue to worsen until they are removed manually, or until they are medically checked and steps are taken to dislodge the stones from the tonsils. One of the safest ways to try to loosen a tonsil stone that you may feel in your throat is to try gargling. If you or anyone else has an oral health problem, you should see your dentist or seek other professional dental treatment right away.
This usually occurs most often in people who have prolonged inflammation of the tonsils or repeated cases of tonsillitis. One of the most common ways people discover they have tonsil stones is by detecting these growths while looking at each other in the mirror. Oral penicillin for 10 days is the most common antibiotic treatment prescribed for tonsillitis caused by group A strep. Tonsil stones, also known as tonsilloliths, form when debris is trapped in the pockets (sometimes called crypts) of the tonsils. But if none of the above home remedies work for you, or if you have tonsil stones that are too large or too embedded in your tonsils for you to remove them yourself, you may want to consider seeing an otolaryngologist (an ear, nose, and throat doctor). If you have a history of developing tonsil stones, the best way to permanently get rid of them is to remove the tonsils.
Tonsils also play an important role in keeping harmful bacteria and viruses out of the body by acting as sentinels and preventing them from entering through the mouth, and should only be removed when absolutely necessary. It's not recommended that you attempt to manually remove tonsil stones yourself; if none of the above processes don't remove them it's time to see your dentist or a medical professional for help.
