One of the most common causes of bad breath in many Americans is the presence of tonsil stones. Tonsil stones are somewhat hard to diagnose and can be harmless and idle at its early stages. Most of the time, the problem has become aggravated and bacterial propagation has gone up in significant numbers that the person opts to enlist a more radical treatment which is a tonsillectomy.
Tonsillectomy is a fairly common surgical procedure and gained popularity in the 50's. Most surgical purposes of removing tonsils are because of chronic inflammation of the tonsils which can cause rheumatic heart disease. Doctors will normally discourage a person from elective surgery such as tonsil removal for curing stones and will advise curative measures before agreeing to this invasive and unnecessary method of curing tonsil stones.
There are many ways of managing and curing tonsil stones without resorting to surgical means. Some procedures are simple enough to be performed at the comfort of the home without supervision from the physician and are often recommended for mild to moderate tonsil stone problems. One of the most prescribed and effective methods of removing tonsil stones are with the use of two Qtips soaked in warm water. The swabs are used to squeeze the tonsil and dislodge any stone present in the tonsil crevice. Another method is to use a scraper or soft brush to remove the stones although commonly done with the aid of a dental practitioner if the person suffers from a pronounced gag reflex.
Another effective home method is to purchase an oral irrigator and massage the tonsil until the stones are removed or coughed out. Of course if most courses of treatment fail to remove persistent stones, the doctor will create a minor incision on the tonsil to excise the stones to avoid having to perform a full tonsillectomy.