I coughed up small particles in my throat that smelled bad. What's going on?

If the small particles coughed out from the throat are very smelly, it will make people feel very strange. In fact, many people do not know that the particles coughed out of sputum are actually tonsil stones, which refers to food residues. After bacterial fermentation, such an odor is produced. This has a relatively large impact on health. Therefore, when this phenomenon occurs, it is necessary to remove the stones in time. There are also many ways to remove tonsil stones. Let us learn about it.

I coughed up small particles in my throat that smelled bad. What's going on?

Your tonsils are located at the back of your throat. They look like cracked plums, or, as some say, small golf balls with dimples. The gaps in the tonsils are easy to "hide dirt and filth". When people finish eating, food will remain in the hidden nests of the tonsils. After being fermented by bacteria and decomposed by digestive enzymes in saliva, it will form smelly and hard substances. In addition, the tonsils will intercept some other oral substances, such as cells shed from the upper wall of the mouth, which together form lumps.

Tonsil stones smell bad because bacteria ferment food waste, producing an odor similar to rotten eggs. So, for those who enjoy squeezing their tonsil stones and smelling them, it may be that they enjoy immersing themselves in the sulfide fumes that are emitted when the stones are broken. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this habit itself, just like some people are used to smelling their socks after taking them off, or some people are used to looking back after defecating. There is nothing wrong with it. However, liking the smell yourself and liking the smell of others are two different things. Tonsil stones can cause patients to have embarrassing bad breath. Generally speaking, most people who suffer from recurrent tonsil stones have more or less bad breath. If you often have bad breath and find that people around you don’t want to talk to you, you also need to check whether you have tonsil stones.

How to remove the stones?

The first step is manual removal. The tools you need to prepare include cotton swabs/hairpins/acne needles, mirror, flashlight, tissues, and water.

After all visible stones are removed, the deeper tonsil stones can also be "squeezed" out. Place your thumbs on your neck, under your chin, and put your clean index fingers inside your mouth, near your tonsils, and gently squeeze out any remaining stones (like you would toothpaste). If too much saliva is secreted during the cleaning process, you need to rinse your mouth before cleaning.

The third method is drug and surgical treatment. Antibiotic treatment. Tonsil stones most commonly occur in people who frequently suffer from tonsillitis. Therefore, if you frequently have tonsil stones, you can use antibiotics to treat them, such as penicillin, erythromycin, etc., to kill some of the bacteria in the mouth and prevent persistent infection of the tonsils.