tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy is it worth it?

[Shit4Breath]

I'm looking into getting health insurance soon and I can't figure out should my first visit be to a dentist or an ent. I don't know if I should go to a dentist to have all my wisdom teeth extracted. Or should I go to an ent specialist for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy? I have nasal bb also so I'm leaning more on the latter. It seems neither has proven to be a solid cure on the forum. Has anyone been cured for good with either? I've tried curing this thing myself for a few years and now I'm at a dead end completely lost.

[Source]

When was the last time you had a deep cleaning at a dentist?

First and foremost, if you're embarking on your journey to find the source, start with the simplest things you can rule out.

I recently got very serious and determined to find the source of my BB after many years of depression and hopelessness/helplessness.

I started by going to my dentist. First thing to take care was a deep cleaning. She said I had plaque deposits under my gums. I recently had the deep cleaning done and out of 100%, it helped reduce my BB by about maybe 5%.

Next, I'm having all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed after Christmas and before new year. I'm REALLY hoping that that is the culprit.

My BB, I am almost positive is coming from the back of my throat. When I brush/scrape my tongue, I can tell it's most potent.

I have talked to my gastroenterologist and asked her if that could be the cause of my BB. She said no, but she still made me do an upper tract endoscopy where they looked at my throat all the way down to my stomach. She said everything was "pristine."

I then went on to see an ENT. She numbed my throat and nostrils, put a tube with a camera up my nose to look at my sinuses and down my throat. She said nothing seemed inflamed, and that there wasn't a sign of post nasal drip.

I told my ENT I often have this feeling in the back of my throat that I tend to want to clear. She said it may be allergies and prescribed me Fluticasone - a steroid nasal spray. That hasn't done anything, except it allows me to pet my kitties without having a runny nose.

At my second appointment, she gave me a prescription for a Proton Pump Inhibitor - she said it's for GERD. I've been taking it for two months almost, and I haven't noticed any difference.

I am running out of ideas here. No many more paths left to explore.

[Shit4Breath]

I had insurance before and got regular cleanings which never did anything for my bb. My dentist told me my teeth were fine but that I needed 2 wisdom teeth extracted one at the bottom and one at the top because they were impacted and didn't grow in well. I think now it is affecting my throat and ears now. Or it could be a sinus issue affecting these instead? I thought maybe my issue was related to the gastro tract but now I really don't know. I'm so confused don't no where to turn next.

[FedUp]

Do you get tonsil stones?

Do you get an awful smell on your finger when you touch your tonsils?

If so get the tonsillectomy. No amount of antibiotics or plucking at them with q tips is gonna remove all the grime in there.

And impacted wisdom teeth can cause BB also, i'd definetly pursue that first if i was you.

[Shit4Breath]

Yes I do have tonsil stones and when I'm reaching in that area to get them out there is a horrible smell. When I run my fingers over and inside the gum line of my impacted wisdom tooth it doesn't smell at all. So I don't think that is a place of infection unless it is infected way down in there. I do notice it is grayish around that area which I think is from the impaction itself.

[FedUp]

I don't want to tell you what do with your body but if I was you I would deffo get them dirty tonsils ripped out. Who knew tissue made to protect you from infection can be such a bitch to us??

[time4change]

Shit4breath

I'm in the same position as you really as I need to choose what to have. I've been refused nhs wisdom teeth extraction and ENT referall so am going to have to pay myself. I've managed to get a loan for about £3000, which is enough to get either a tonsillectomy or wt extraction. I'm more for the tonsillectomy for me as my tonsils smell horrific. But as soon as the loan comes through I will book a meeting at a clinic to have an X-ray of teeth just to see if mine can be removed as was previously told they are too close to the nerve.

One thing I was wondering is if you pay private and request a tonsillectomy or extraction can they do it even if they don't think it would help. I mean they're getting paid and as long as you accept any legal responsibility for things going wrong then what is the problem.

I think a poll on here would be a good idea of who has had tonsillectomy and been cured or helped.

[FedUp]

Shit4breath

I'm in the same position as you really as I need to choose what to have. I've been refused nhs wisdom teeth extraction and ENT referall so am going to have to pay myself. I've managed to get a loan for about £3000, which is enough to get either a tonsillectomy or wt extraction. I'm more for the tonsillectomy for me as my tonsils smell horrific. But as soon as the loan comes through I will book a meeting at a clinic to have an X-ray of teeth just to see if mine can be removed as was previously told they are too close to the nerve.

One thing I was wondering is if you pay private and request a tonsillectomy or extraction can they do it even if they don't think it would help. I mean they're getting paid and as long as you accept any legal responsibility for things going wrong then what is the problem.

I think a poll on here would be a good idea of who has had tonsillectomy and been cured or helped.

If you're considering going private.

This is what I did so this is my advice.

I paid to see an ENT specialist privately. It cost a few hundred quid but right away he suggested I should get my tonsils removed.

Maybe it's dependant on the ENT but mine was really good.

He asked If I wanted to do this privately or on the NHS, I suggested NHS.

Now my GP would NOT refer me at all for a tonsillectomy on the grounds of halitosis and tonsillitis.

But after my meeting with the ENT specialist, he sent a letter to my GP suggesting they refer me back to him on the NHS.

I saw him again a month later, I had the tonsillectomy the day after I saw him, but that was because 2 people had cancelled for that day so I was really lucky to be dealt with that quick. But before you go spending thousands try what I did. I really hope it works for you like it did for me.

[halitosisux]

Time4change, I don't recall a single person on here who has been cured of chronic bad breath following a tonsillectomy. Most people, including myself, noticed only a slight benefit in taste in the throat and the feeling that the air we can smell passing into our nose on it's way out feels slightly fresher.

I'm near certain that tonsils only smell as a RESULT of having type-1 bad breath and not vice-versa. Type-1 BB can be due to various infections and situations within the vicinity of the tongue (dental/sinus/stomach reflux etc), as well as situations which cause overactivity of the bacteria on the back of the tongue (things like dryness, excessive mucus etc).

Type-1 BB is fairly well-controllable with Zinc based mouthwashes and tongue scrapers and certain combinations of antibacterials.

Infected tonsils (aka tonsillitis), where the tissues themselves are invaded by bacteria and the tonsils become painful and swollen, are a different matter altogether, and it's well known that this can result in the temporary production of tonsil stones for the duration of the infection - understandably.

It is my belief that the gunk that gets trapped inside the crypts of the tonsils are nothing other than the microbial gunk that sits on the tongue, and which then gets gradually scraped into the tonsil crypts whenever the tongue brushes past them. The tongue probably does exactly the same thing with the gaps between the teeth as it scrapes past them and the gunk gradually builds up there too. It's almost exactly the same odour and intensity, and if you examine the crap on a piece of floss it even looks like small tonsil stones, especially if you haven't flossed for a while.

That in itself isn't proof of what I've said - but then why else would it be that nearly every person who undergoes a tonsillectomy for bad breath reasons generally does NOT even get slightly cured with their removal? There may be very exceptional cases though, where trapped stones are absolutely huge.

If your wisdom teeth are impacting and not properly erupted, etc, then they always present a possibility.

Have you ever tried irrigating your wisdom teeth gum with a waterpik to see if that helps reduce your odour? It could be worth trying that with a chlorhexidine mouthwash. Pour it neat into the the reservoir but go very gently to begin with. This sounds gross, but if you clean your mouth out throughly beforehand and then collect the chlorhexidine from your mouth as you go along, you can re-use it a few times. That's what I've tried in the past anyway, and it's highly effective.

[Shit4Breath]

I plan on getting really good health insurance so hopefully I won't have to pay much but a co-pay. I'm just going back and fourth, I don't want to have to pay all this money to hear the same things that people on here are hearing. It seems doctors try to make us think we are paranoid about our bb to cover up their lack of understanding. I don't want to sit in waiting room after waiting room only to hear the doctors tell me it's all in my head or worse to have an uneccessary operation that helps minimally at best. I wish there was some other great white hype out there because right now I don't know what's left.

[Born To Suffer]

Sometimes it's not about removing one or the other, it's about removing both, tonsils and wisdoms. I know if I didn't have both removed my bb wouldn't have gone down so much. Both are painless procedures imo, but if the stink comes from tonsils, then take those out first.

Or if you have PND it's good to first get a CAT scan / MRI of you nasal area just to sure there isn't something lurking there.

[time4change]

Fedup,

thanks for the reply, i think that paying for a private ENT appointment is the only way forward for getting a tonsillectomy for me, and hopefully they will write to my GP. Unfortunately I have never had tonsillitis, so not sure how im gonna pull it off as its all on record.

Halitosisux,

I didnt know that no one has been 100% cured with tonsillectomy alone, I guess its something to bear in mind if im refused it as theres hope that something else will be the root of my bb. Mine never goes away ever, when I brush my teeth well my mouth feels clean but when I swallow I can taste the horrible taste at the back of my throat. Definitely want to get a waterpik as my gums at the back have been swollen and bleeding in the last couple of weeks. ENT surgeon said that there was no way it was due to my wisdom teeth but I still want them removed as want everything ruled out.

So far my plan is when i get the money in a couple of weeks to get private consulatations at wisdom teeth clinic, ENT, and get fillings changed hopefully. Im waiting on thyroid test results which should be back this week although I doubt they will be abnormal. Am also going to get a cleaning at the dentist as I find it helps in terms of less plaque means less places for the bad smell to linger on.

Shit4breath,

I agree they just lie as they do not know what to do sometimes, its so disheartening and confusing. I think maybe go for wisdom teeth first as tonsillectomy takes longer to heal (im guessing but not sure) therefore if wisdom teeth dont work it will be easier to get tonsillectomy after rather than the other way round.

[halitosisux]

Time4change, why are the gums swollen and bleeding? is that just happening by itself?

Yes, you should definitely get a waterpik, they are fantastic. I wish I had bought one years ago.

That horrible taste is probably gunk or stones in your tonsils. Try to continue with trying to find ways of lowering your bacterial activity in your mouth and the back of your tongue. Those tonsils may never need removing. One day you may find you're able to control your situation enough that your tonsils no longer smell bad.

Btw, I had a dentist tell me when I was in my early twenties, that I need to have my lower wisdom teeth out. I didn't bother. He took out the top two teeth, but said the bottoms needed doing in hospital. Ironically I didn't do it because I needed to focus all my attention on trying to cure my bad breath. Years later, in desperation, I went to see several dentists trying to see if there was anything wrong in my mouth that might cause BB. They all said there was nothing. I was actually suspecting gum disease at the time because the gum around the inside of my upper molars looked a bit receeded and very hard. I thought that might be disease of some kind, but it's not. In the end it was only by total chance that I rubbed one of my lower wisdoms with a finger and realised what a stench came out onto my finger.

[Shit4Breath]

I was really hoping that I would be convinced to get these procedures done because I myself can't seem to make up my mind about it. But after posting this and not seeing any success stories I'm just as confused. There's a couple of members who've had this done just recently, I guess I'll wait for they're update to decide whether or not it's worth it.

T4C, If I were to get a tonsillectomy I would definitely get a adenoidectomy as well especially if you have nasal bb.