Tonsil Stones Information: Understanding Tonsilloliths
Have you ever wondered why your throat sometimes hurts, even if it not infected or swollen? If you have infrequent dealings with seemingly Phantom pain?that has no visible cause, you may have developed tonsil stones. Tonsil stones, or tonsilloliths, are hard, pea-sized formations that stick to the folds of the throat.
True to their name, these formations are not only physically hard, but they are also composed on minerals like phosphorous. Although these stones are generally not dangerous to human life, they can still cause a significant amount of discomfort, especially if the tonsil stones become too big.
Symptoms
There is actually a wide variety of symptoms associated with tonsil stones, and the unfortunate thing here is that it is not always possible to spot tonsil stones by just using a mirror to check if you have any calcified formations in your throat. Now, the first (and probably biggest) symptom of tonsil stones is halitosis or bad breath.
This might sound a little funny, but bad breath really does point at other underlying problems in your oral cavity. You see, halitosis in itself is not just a state?where the mouth smells really bad.
Halitosis is mainly due to sulfuric compounds produced by bacteria living in the mouth, and sometimes in the throat. When there is an excessive number of bacteria in the mouth, the production of these sulfuric compounds goes into overdrive, and what results is bad breath.
It is believed that the bacteria responsible for giving people awful breath is also responsible for the formation of tonsil stones. Another symptom that you should watch out for is any swelling or inflammation of throat and tonsil tissues.
Of course, inflammation can be caused by a number of other factors, but if you experience frequent bouts of inflammation then that might mean that there is a hard, foreign body lodged in one of the folds of your tonsils. The third symptom is the presence of white debris in the throat area.
True to their name, these formations are not only physically hard, but they are also composed on minerals like phosphorous. Although these stones are generally not dangerous to human life, they can still cause a significant amount of discomfort, especially if the tonsil stones become too big.
Symptoms
There is actually a wide variety of symptoms associated with tonsil stones, and the unfortunate thing here is that it is not always possible to spot tonsil stones by just using a mirror to check if you have any calcified formations in your throat. Now, the first (and probably biggest) symptom of tonsil stones is halitosis or bad breath.
This might sound a little funny, but bad breath really does point at other underlying problems in your oral cavity. You see, halitosis in itself is not just a state?where the mouth smells really bad.
Halitosis is mainly due to sulfuric compounds produced by bacteria living in the mouth, and sometimes in the throat. When there is an excessive number of bacteria in the mouth, the production of these sulfuric compounds goes into overdrive, and what results is bad breath.
It is believed that the bacteria responsible for giving people awful breath is also responsible for the formation of tonsil stones. Another symptom that you should watch out for is any swelling or inflammation of throat and tonsil tissues.
Of course, inflammation can be caused by a number of other factors, but if you experience frequent bouts of inflammation then that might mean that there is a hard, foreign body lodged in one of the folds of your tonsils. The third symptom is the presence of white debris in the throat area.