Tonsil stones are possibly one of the most annoying and disgusting throat infections you can get. They cause a bunch of symptoms that are difficult to put up with and they’re basically just little balls of mucus and leftover food.
They’re definitely something you want to avoid!
But given how rare they are, most people have no idea how to do this which makes their development even more probable. Well not to worry, I’m here to help.
In this post I’ve outlined a few methods which if you work into your daily routine, will ensure you never get tonsil stones.
However, if you’re unfortunate enough to have already gotten tonsil stones then check out www.howtogetridoftonsilstones.org to learn how to remove them.
Maintain Good Oral Hygiene
In order to prevent food, mucus, dead cells and other debris from gathering together in the crypts of your tonsils, you need to keep your mouth clean. I’d imagine this isn’t a surprise as you’ve likely heard this being preached by dentists time and time again.
It probably felt like a nag but they could not be more right.
At a minimum you should be brushing and flossing your teeth at least 3 times per day. But if you want to go that little bit further (and pretty much ensure prevention) you should bump this up to 4 times and do so after every meal.
That way there won’t be small pieces of food stuck in-between your teeth that will make their way to your tonsils. And you’ll also be introducing probiotics to your mouth which fight off the bad bacteria and fungi that start the development of tonsil stones in the first place.
If you wanted to make prevention even more likely then you can also supplement this with some mouthwash as well. Just make sure you use one without any alcohol in it – which takes me nicely into my next point…
Limit Consumption of Tobacco & Alcohol
Because of their dehydrating effects, these are the last things you want to be consuming if you’re trying to prevent a tonsil stones infection.
In order to keep the bacteria and fungi in your mouth at bay, you must have a high enough level of salvia. And in order to have a high enough level of salvia, you need to be properly hydrated.
Therefore, you should limit (or stop) your consumption of tobacco and alcohol if you want to prevent a tonsil stone infection.
Stay Hydrated
As a follow-on point to above, you should not only be limiting consumptions that cause dehydration but you should also be increasing consumption of things that improve your hydration – aka drinking water.
Your saliva plays a very important role in the prevention of tonsil stones as it keeps control of all bad bacteria and fungi activity. So you should be doing all you can to ensure it’s kept at a high level.
Now the exact amount you should be drinking each day will vary from person to person, so I can’t really make an accurate recommendation. But if you want to learn more then I do recommend you check out this post on the StayHealthyWays website.
Gargle Salt Water/Apple Cider Vinegar
Both the salt water and ACV work in a similar way – my preference is to the latter as it promotes more health benefits. It’s of course up to you which you choose and if the salt water is more readily available then feel free to use it.
Just make sure you take advantage of at least one of these options as they’re really helpful in preventing tonsil stones. Both have antibacterial properties so they’re able to fight off and kill any bad bacteria in your mouth/tonsils which might cause problems.
Here’s what you do:
- Mix 1-2 tablespoons of salt/ACV with 8 ounces of clean water
- Take one sip, tilt your head back and being gargling – make sure the mixture reaches your tonsils
- After 15 seconds, spit this out and repeat with the remaining mixture in your glass.
- Clean out your mouth afterwards with clean water and brush your teeth.
To ensure prevention I would gargle one of the two mixtures at least once daily – 2-3 times if you want to be a little surer.
Conclusion
Depending on how enthusiastic you are, you only need to focus on one of these methods at a time. They all promote a similar thing (reducing the presence of bad bacteria/ food debris/mucus etc. in your mouth) so you’ll see results by focusing on each one.
I would however use this post as a list as it has been written in order of importance. Gradually work your way down by starting with maintaining better oral hygiene. Once you feel you’ve achieved that, and have successfully made it a daily habit, move on to limiting tobacco/alcohol and so on and so on.
Over the long term this is how you will see results. Not by overcommitting yourself (doing them all) one week and giving up the next because you found it too difficult to stick to.
Just take it easy at the start and gradually improve day by day.
