White Spots on Tonsils: Why Tonsillectomy may not be the best for you?
Tonsillectomy (Removal of tonsils through surgery) is often considered by many as a solution to removal of white spots on tonsils for good. I would like to share my experiences in this regard and why I decided against tonsillectomy despite initially seriously considering it.
“White spots on tonsils can be completely eliminated by having your tonsils removed” is a myth. I will explain to you shortly. My thinking was once my tonsils were removed then I will not experience white spots on tonsils. As we get older, tonsillectomies become increasingly dangerous, but aside from that, even if you have your tonsils removed, you will most likely still have bad breath! Why you might ask? Well let’s first understand what are these tonsils and what role do they play?
Tonsils are gland like tissues on our throat that act as a barrier to protect our throat against bacteria and viruses. Our throat area consists of tonsils, adenoids, and several kinds of lymphoid tissues forming a ring. This tonsillar ring protects foreign bodies from entering our pharynx and helps in avoiding common infections related to the throat. Thus following tonsillectomy, one risks a chance to catch debris. Nevertheless, the tonsils will grow back. Hence surgery is not a permanent way to alleviate the white spots on tonsils problem. Though once a popular treatment, tonsillectomy is now considered by several healthcare professionals only in rare cases.
Now to the bad breathe part despite removal of tonsils: – Bad breath is caused by anaerobic sulphur producing bacteria which normally live within the surface of the tongue and in the throat. These bacteria assist us in digestion by breaking down proteins found in specific foods, mucus, blood, and in “broken-down” oral tissue. Under certain conditions, these bacteria start to break down proteins at a very high rate. These proteins are made up of amino acids (i.e. cysteine and methionine) which are very dense in sulphur.
When these bacteria come into contact with these compounds, the lousy-tasting sulphur compounds are released from the back of the tongue as hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, and other odorous and bad tasting compounds. These problem volatile sulphur compounds, where volatile refers to vaporous and effervescent or better still described as bad breathe as we know it! You cannot therefore permanently remove them from your mouth – not by tongue scraping, antibiotics, or rinses which claim/allege to lift the bacteria off your tongue. The sulphur producing bacteria is almost the likely candidate for bad breathe and not the tonsils themselves.
Halting halitosis (bad breathe), linked to the white spots on tonsils, through tonsillectomy is therefore by no means an exhaustive solution.