How to Remove Tonsil Stones with an Oral Irrigator

Anyone who suffers from tonsil stones knows that they are inconvenient and disgusting. The little white chunks are a mixture of food and other debris that becomes lodged in tonsillar crypts where they rot and cause an infection. Eventually, the tonsil stones grow large enough, and you cough or spit them out. The process then repeats. New tonsil stones.

Those afflicted with tonsil stones have usually tried a variety of ways to remove them. Many methods for removing tonsil stones involve using various picking devices, such as a toothpick or q-tip to dislodge the tonsil stones from tonsillar crypts.

However, there's another way to remove tonsil stones that few people would think of off the bat. You can use an oral irrigation device, such as a Waterpik, to flush the tonsil stones from your tonsillar crypts. These devices project a thin stream of water and can be used to clean out you mouth and in between your teeth. The forceful jet of water can also blast tonsil stones from the nooks in your tonsils.

You'll need to find a well-lighted area to use the oral irrigator. Preferably, do it at your bathroom sink with a large flashlight to illuminate your throat. The next step is important so you do not injure your tonsils and cause a needless infection. Put the oral irrigator on the lowest setting. If you put it on a high setting, you risk damaging the delicate tissue of your tonsils and causing bleeding.

On the lowest setting, aim the oral irrigator's stream of water at your tonsillar crypts (generally right above your tonsils). Sometimes, if you have a large tonsil stone inside, you will be able to see the tonsil stone lodged there. Other times, you won't be able to see the tonsil stones, but they are still in the tonsillar crypts, just hidden.

Rinse out your tonsillar crypts this way. If you start to feel pain or start to bleed, you should stop using the oral irrigator immediately. You should then get some warm salt water to gargle with, to lower the risk of getting an infection.

However, if all goes well, before long you'll feel a tonsil stone or two pop out and into the sink.

Unfortunately, the only permanent way of ridding tonsil stones is by getting your tonsils removed. But by using an oral irrigation device, you can at least have temporary relief from those annoying and unpleasant tonsil stones.