Wrong all along!?!?!?

[NOTANYMORE]

i have a history here of being "cured" by taking care of sinus issues. i now realise that I was only helping my breath decreasing mucus production and therefore decreasing tonsil stones.

here is the rub. I HAD MY TONSILS REMOVED OVER 30 YEARS AGO! yep, you read that right. the past few months I have had a realy awefull fecal taste and smell in my mouth and one morning even spit out something that looked like a pill. i didn't think much of this as i have a large hiatal hernia and mucus from LPR and I take pills at night. the thing was, it stunk horribly.

Fast forward to last week. I had noticed an enlarged lymph node on the right side of my neck, just below my jaw and made an appointment with my primary care physician to check it out. Two days before my appointment I noticed a particularly awefull smell and what felt like nasal drip on that same right side of my throat and decided to shine a flashlight in a mirror to look inside my throat. I saw a yellowish circle in the far back and pocked my finger on the side of it. I kid you not, some buttery yellow stuff came oozing out and I was mortified. it was some nasty smelling crud and it sent me into full panic mode.

Fortunatly I was able to book an ENT appointment the next day as they thought I might have an abscess or something serious. The ENT took one look and told me It was tonsilliths. i was like WTF? I dont even have tonsils!? I had never considered this as a possibility in my years of searching for a "cure".

She explained that because I have bad reflux, it has irritated my throat to a point that what little tonsil tissue I had leftover from that surgery long ago, has actually started to REGENERATE as a defense mechanism against the acid. This shit floored me.
Not only that, but it also has crypts which collect bacteria and decaying food particles which turn into realy awefull smelling plaque. then she said she saw another little spot and told me should get that one out and she did. Also, she said the swollen lymph node is probably related to those stones as well.

Of course I asked if she could remove that tonsil tissue but she said tonsilliths are not an an indication for tonsil removal and since i had already had a tonsilectomy, no one would touch me anyway due to the tissue proximity to the carotid arteries and major blood flow in the neck.

So now I have found the "cause" and my breath actually smells clean since removing these things. she did say they will come back from time to time and that is a certainty. well that is unacceptable in my opinion so............

I have found something promising. It's called coblation cryptolysis. Basically the doctor smooths the surface of the tonsils eliminating the crypts so stones have no place to form. there is a 40% chance that you will need more than one session and there is always a chance that the crypts will grow back over time but not likely. there are currently only a handfull of ENT's who perform this proceedure but rest assured, If I can, I will get this done.

thought you all might like to know about this. It's been a truly humbling week to say the least. I thought I had a handle on this and considered myself to be a "bad breath expert" but now i realise that anything is possible and that there is always a path to a cause for your bad breath. it's not just "in your genes" as a dentist once told me.

stay strong friends. I wish nothing but a cure for us all.

[StillHoping]

this was a very inspiring post; and I truly do hope this leads to a cure for your bb. Please do keep us updated!!

[billie]

Is it possible to have crypts after tonsillectomy?
Lately I've been paying more attention on my throat. After joining this site I've been focusing on my intestines a lot, but I'm not sure anymore since antibiotics never worked.
When I stick my fingers where my tonsils are it feels ruff and like there are crypts. I always thought that the feeling I have in my throat are my swollen glands, but also now Im not sure if it's the glands. It's kinda the same feeling when you don't wanna cry.

I posted this question a little while ago. Is it possible to have crypts after tonsillectomy?
And is it possible that a diet change works because the bacteria in your mouth just can't feed of the sugar anymore.
I always thought that if a diet works, it means that the problem is digestive.

[billie]

Is it possible to have crypts after tonsillectomy?
Lately I've been paying more attention on my throat. After joining this site I've been focusing on my intestines a lot, but I'm not sure anymore since antibiotics never worked.
When I stick my fingers where my tonsils are it feels ruff and like there are crypts. I always thought that the feeling I have in my throat are my swollen glands, but also now Im not sure if it's the glands. It's kinda the same feeling when you don't wanna cry.

I posted this question a little while ago. Is it possible to have crypts after tonsillectomy?
And is it possible that a diet change works because the bacteria in your mouth just can't feed of the sugar anymore.
I always thought that if a diet works, it means that the problem is digestive.

[NOTANYMORE]

According to what I was told, if the doctor leaves any tissue behind (as happens quite often when a surgeon feels your anatomy is in a dangerous location) it will remain cryptic and it will have the potential to regrow. She did tell me to use antiplaque mouthwash (she recommended lysterine, lol) and to squirt some salt water into the caves to help clean them out. I have researched diets for this but there doesn't seem to be any concrete evidence that diet will decrease the stones. I would think the biggest thing you could do would be to keep your mouth moist in order to facilitate the flow of bacteria through the mouth so it doesn't gob up and harden as easily, if that makes sense.

I did read that tonsil stones are often over looked as a source of halitosis by dentists and that they are present in over 70% of people with severe halitosis and NO history of periodontal disease.