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I had never heard of this condition, so I Googled it, too! Here's what I found on the Reference.com wiki:
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Tonsillolith

A tonsillolith (also called tonsil stone or calculus of the tonsil) is a piece (or more commonly, a cluster) of calcareous matter which forms in the rear of the mouth, in the crevasses (called tonsillar crypts) of the palatine tonsils (which are what most people commonly refer to as simply tonsils).

Tonsil stones, it is theorized, are the result of a combination of any of the following:

* food particles
* dead white blood cells (a.k.a. leukocytes)
* oral bacteria
* overactive salivary glands

Protruding tonsilloliths have the feel of a foreign object, lodged between the outside of wisdom teeth and the temporomandibular joint region of the fleshed jaw. They may be an especially uncomfortable nuisance, but are not often harmful. They are one possible cause of halitosis.

Symptoms
Tonsilloliths occur more frequently in adults than in children. Symptoms are usually non-specific such as sore throat, chronic cough, bad taste in the back of the throat, or otalgia. A foreign body sensation may also exist in the back of throat with recurrent foul breath (halitosis). Treatment is usually removal of concretions by curettage; larger lesions may require local excision.

Tonsilloliths tend to be present in young adolescents and can manifest with bad breath and swallowing pain accompanied by a foreign body sensation and, in some cases, referred ear pain. The condition may also prove asymptomatic, with detection upon palpating a hard intratonsillar or submucosal mass.

July 14, 2008 - 4:54pm

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