Tonsil Stones Smell? Yuck! Hidden Tonsil Stones Treatment + Surgery

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Tonsil stones smell. BAD. Just when you think you removed all your hidden tonsil stones, you wake up to that nasty, musty smell still in your mouth again. Here’s my experience with deep tonsils, tonsil stones treatment, and tips for removing hidden tonsil stones. Plus some really gross pictures.

Disclaimer: As you can tell, this article is not scientific and I’m no doctor, but I hope my experience is at least slightly entertaining, and maybe even a bit informative.

With that out of the way, here’s a G-rated pic of tonsil stones to ease you into the info:

My tonsil stones’ origin story

“What the heck are those white tonsil spots,” my 25-year-old self thought as I peered into the mirror to find the cause of the annoying tickle in my throat. And so began my decade-long quest to rid my tonsil holes of said spots.

Seeing little white rocks in your tonsils is enough to freak anyone out, but for a hypochondriac like me, it was enough to make my heart jump clear into my throat to make itself at home right next to those gross stones of stench.

Tonsil stones or “tonsilloliths” are white or yellow stones of hardened bacteria. They smell like death (or as I recently found out when remodeling, PB Blaster), irritate the back of your mouth, and make your throat sore if you constantly poke at them. Go figure. Needless to say, it’s alarming to find these stinky stones suddenly hiding out in the back of your throat!

We, keepers of the cryptic tonsils, tend to refer to these smelly bad boys as simply our “stones.” Or is that only me?

1. Tonsil stones symptoms (besides the tonsil smell)

You might be asking, “Holly, do you think I have tonsil stones?” And I’d respond by noting that if you have to ask, you probably do. I’d also ask if you have:

• Cryptic tonsils- tonsils with various holes, wrinkles, and niches.
• Large tonsils- larger surface area means more potential crypts. I had huge tonsils and big tonsil stones to go along with them.
• Abnormally bad breath–a different variety than run-of-the-mill morning breath–more like death, rottenness, or a musty basement. Or again, PB Blaster.
• Stinky breath even after twice-daily brushing, daily flossing, and mouthwash.
• Irritation in the back of your throat or feeling like something’s always stuck.
• The telltale sign: visible white or yellow stones in your tonsils.

If you answered yes to any of these questions–especially the last question–you very well may have tonsil stones. Congratulations sorry.

While the tonsil stones’ smell and bad breath is a colossal annoyance, tonsil stones are usually harmless. There are also a few at-home remedies that help get rid of them, though my final solution for my tonsil stones removal involved a little more than home remedies.

Here’s a disgusting video that shows tonsil stones treatment/maneuvers in action. Don’t watch if you’re squeamish!

2. My first tonsil stones “treatment”

For me, the symptoms started when I was almost 26 and pregnant. I was student-teaching and became very aware of a different kind of bad breath that smells worse than regular ol’ morning breath. One-on-one work with students made me extremely insecure because of my sudden bad breath. I constantly put my hand over my mouth. I’ve always had excellent oral hygiene, so if I read another article claiming the possibility of bad oral hygiene as a potential cause of tonsil stones, I’ll scream.

Around this time, I also began to feel a slight tickle in the back of my throat. I attributed this to an oncoming cold, but the cold never came. I felt that throat irritation for several weeks before I finally decided to take a good, hard look at what might be back there.

My heart jumped when I saw the cause of the tickle.

“Stones!“

One of my tonsils had two white lumps on it. And they were just sitting there, menacingly.

Of course, I immediately thought it was cancer. After some googling, I found out they were tonsilloliths– calcifications that form in the crypts of the palatal tonsils (Wikipedia’s quick definition). Thank goodness. Wait–tonsi-what?

My second course of action? Poking and prodding, of course. I grabbed a toothpick and tried to just scrape it off. How hard could it be? I hadn’t learned the ins and outs of at-home tonsil stone removal yet. While trying to scrape an area that didn’t want to be scraped, I inadvertently pressed the spot next to the lodged tonsil stone. What happened next left me horrified–and intrigued.

Like an iceberg, there was a huge surface area of tonsil stone hidden inside the tonsil. This gargantuan stone emerged as the pressure from the toothpick pushed the area around it. Out popped my first big ol’ tonsil stone. I gagged and spit it into the sink. And just like that, I was a member of the cryptic tonsil-pickers gang, an elite sub-class of tonsil stonian members.

Of course, I had to pick up the stone, inspect it, pinch it with my fingers, and smell it. I immediately regretted all four, but especially the last act.

My next strategic course of action was to make my unsuspecting husband take a whiff, and dramatically understandably gagged. Naturally, I had to chase him around and try to rub it on his nose. And they say romance is dead.

2. Tonsil stones treatment: Up the oral hygiene if you haven’t already

As fun as it is to gross out my spouse, I couldn’t let these little stink balls live rent-free in my tonsils. So I upped my oral hygiene. I brushed three times a day instead of two. I flossed thrice a day instead of just at night. Started using Listerine religiously. I grew to resent my mouth and its high-maintenance needs. Flossing is just tedious and awful even once a day–thrice daily is pure madness. I even bought a pricey mouthwash–Therabreath–made by a fancy-schmancy doctor. Refreshing, but the tonsil stones smell was still there.

I’m only including this as a tip because some folks may benefit from upping their oral hygiene! Whether it works on the tonsil stones smell or not will depend on where you start from hygiene-wise. Either way, it will leave the rest of your mouth minty and fresh, which can only help the bad breath caused by tonsil stones.

PS: Tonsil stones aren’t caused by bad oral hygiene. They come from food and bacteria settling into those holes or crypts some people have in their tonsils.

3. Tonsil stones treatments (temporary)

Over time, I realized I was going to have to do things the hard way to get rid of the tonsil stones smell. I made tonsil stone picking a part of my nightly routine. Most people use Q-tips to press the stone out with pressure. I was hardcore (and probably stupid) and used toothpicks to just get right in there and pick out each one like a miner picking diamonds out of a cave wall. I often went to bed with bloody tonsils and a mortified husband.

With age comes wisdom, and a few years later–at the “wise” age of 28ish–I started to use one of those medicine injectors they give for baby medicine. I’d shoot some water down into a crypt and a few tonsil stones would come out. It can be eerily satisfying while simultaneously revolting, much like watching Pimple Popper MD or the youtube video embedded above. Many cryptic tonsil clubbers recommend water picks, but I never wanted to do the maintenance that came with those.

As luck would have it, Amazon now sells oral irrigators with tapered deep reach. Maybe they sold them ten years ago, but I’d never discovered this. These could be ideal for folks who don’t want the hassle of a water pick to get rid of tonsil stones but also don’t want weekly bloody tonsils from picking with various sharp objects. It’s like a hybrid tonsil stone removal system for the low-maintenance tonsilstonian on the go.

They also sell a handy-dandy tonsil stone removal kit (which includes an oral irrigator). What a perfect gift for that special cryptic-tonsiled someone. I’m only half-kidding. I love practical gifts like this, but many women would probably prefer jewelry.

4. Tonsil stones treatment that doesn’t work for tonsil stones smell removal

Tips that didn’t work for me:

• Special mouthwash like Therabreath was a waste of money for me.
• Cutting out dairy and–gasp–coffee didn’t work for me, though many claim it helps.
• stepping up the amount of brushing could be effective for helping keep bacteria at bay, but if you’re already brushing twice daily, it didn’t seem to help to brush three times.

What did work for me:

• Q-tip or toothpick (but I don’t officially recommend these due to bloodied tonsils), and unfortunately, poking and prodding was the best method for me.
• Listerine seems to cut down on the bacteria in your mouth, and I feel like it helped lead to an overall decrease in the formation of tonsil stones. I still dealt with them regularly though, and who wants that?
• Tongue scrapers work to keep your tongue clear of debris, and every little bit helps when preventing tonsil stones.
• Oral irrigation via baby medicine droppers or the fancy irrigators shown above.
• Sadly, the extra flossing helps–especially if you’re prone to food getting caught in spaces between teeth–because that same bacteria from the stones also made the bacteria between my teeth stink like the stones. If you’re a tonsilstonian, try smelling your floss after you use it and see if you recognize the putrid stench.
• Tonsillectomy was the ultimate solution for me!

5. A tonsillectomy gets rid of the tonsil stones …for good!

I’m not a high-maintenance gal. I rarely wear makeup, I don’t dye my hair, and I probably definitely don’t shave my legs as much as I’m supposed to.

The nightly water flushing of the tonsils became a dreaded routine, and it was frustrating that I still constantly smelled them in my mouth even when no stones were visible. I wonder if some folks are just prone to a certain bacterium, and it manifests in the saliva as well as tonsil stones. With tonsils as big as mine, I felt like I could never get them as 100% fully emptied as I wanted. I was constantly wrestling with exhaustion from this daily routine, self-consciousness from the smell, and a consistently irritated throat.

Finally, I had the “enough-is-enough” moment when I realized my self-consciousness over my tonsil stone breath was impeding daily life. I would read to my kiddo with him on my lap while I tried to breathe to my side so he couldn’t smell my breath. I’d constantly put my hand over my mouth when talking to someone close-up or even nearby. I avoided kissing my husband because I worried about him smelling my big tonsil stones (this was years after chasing him around with that initial tonsil stone)! Talk about enough is enough! I need me some smooches.

So I went for the forever fix. The tonsillectomy.

Should I get a tonsillectomy for tonsil stones?

If tonsil stones are interfering with your daily functioning, here’s a question to potentially discuss with your ENT: “Would you do a tonsillectomy just to get rid of my tonsil stones smell?”

My ENT said, “Sure.”

Really, he was casual about it as if he does tonsil stone surgery all the time. Is it possible this is way more common than people know? So we made it a date, and a month later, he scooped out my tonsils and all future stinky tonsil stones along with them.

I don’t mean to oversimplify it. I had thought about a tonsillectomy for years and read forum after forum about the supposedly awful tonsillectomy recovery. Surgery is always a serious procedure, not one to be taken lightly.

One forum really hit home when I read a woman’s comment about being concerned about tonsil stones in old age. She reasoned that when she was much older and less independent, who would pick her tonsil stones out? It could be seen as a silly concern to some, but to me, it’s valid and struck a chord. I worked as a CNA for a short time and know firsthand how little time CNAs have to devote to noncrucial tasks. I’m guessing tonsil picking wouldn’t make the list.

Surgery certainly isn’t a solution for everyone, and for many folks isn’t an option at all. These things should be discussed with a doctor and loved ones. For me, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Better yet, Cigna covered it.

Tonsillectomy recovery for adults

Yet another disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, and you shouldn’t construe this article as medical advice. I’m only sharing my tonsil stone experience. Your experience and health needs will differ.

There’s a lot of information floating around online about tonsillectomy recovery for adults and the pain involved. If interest arises, I may do an article solely on this.

I didn’t think tonsillectomy recovery was any worse than a rough cold, though I often see people refer to it as a really tough surgery recovery for adults.

To put things in perspective, I think giving birth is pretty awful, and I had an epidural with all three boys. While the epidural made it better, it was still horribly painful! Granted, my three boys were gigantic, with each one gaining a pound on the previous one. My third baby was 10 pounds, 2 ounces! However, getting a back tattoo at age 18 wasn’t painful for me–although my friend passed out! Dental work isn’t painful either. Breaking my tailbone, however, ranks right up there near childbirth pain. I mention these painful anecdotes to show I’m no tough gal.

Tonsillectomy recovery pain? Meh. Tonsillectomy recovery for me wasn’t worse than a bout of strep throat. In fact, I didn’t use their prescription pain medicine after the second day, because it made me nauseous. And frankly, I didn’t feel the need the first day. I only used it because all the forums said to try to stay ahead of the pain. I’m not saying this to brag, I’m saying this to show you may find it’s not even necessary to take the prescribed hydrocodone or pain meds.

Tonsillectomy recovery timeline:

On the day of surgery, I felt no pain. I was outside talking with my mother-in-law on the back porch and felt just fine. The day after, I had a sore throat. What surprised me in the subsequent days was the throbbing ear pain that radiates up throughout the head. I made good use of my ice pack, my vaporizer, and adult liquid Tylenol (which goes down easier than pills). No actual prescription pain medication was needed. It was all very manageable for me.

I read many a scary story about folks coughing up scabs around the 5th day when scabs tend to slough off and the potential subsequent gushing of blood and problems that can follow that. Thank goodness I didn’t experience anything like that! I went pretty easy on my tonsils with soft foods for a week, no coughing, and relatively little talking after the first day. Also, I took it easy physically for the first week and watched movies. In fact, I couldn’t pin down the exact day the scabs came off, but they were gone by the end of the first week. It was likely day 5 or 6.

Truth be told, the first week of recovery was a welcome reprieve from daily life as a stay-at-home mom. It was nice to turn off my brain and just relax. I watched a lot of Netflix, got lots of rest, didn’t tend to children, and lost fifteen pounds to boot. I also lost my appetite for jello, scrambled eggs, and mashed potatoes pretty quickly.

By the second week, I was out of bed and itching to get back in the swing of things. Mainly, the swing of food things.

I never had so many food dreams in my life! Del Taco never tasted so good as on day 10 after my tonsillectomy.

Buh-bye, hidden tonsil stones

The decision to permanently get rid of tonsil stones was eventually an easy one for me. With my 35th birthday came the third best present ever: freedom from the tonsil stone smells. Tonsilloliths are no longer a daily hassle and cause for self-consciousness. Now I can be self-conscious about other things–I’m looking at you, age spots.

I’m finally ready for my close-up.