Bad Breath

So recently my BF has told me that I always have bad breath. What? NO! How could that be? I thought it was because I wasn't flossing enough. Fixed that. I thought maybe I wasn't brushing enough. Fixed that. I thought it may be what I was eating. Fixed that.

Well, it wasn't any of those. Let me enlighten you on a little thing called cryptic tonsils. A little over a year ago I was just sitting down in my seat on a flight back from Vegas. I was severely hung over, and neurotically anxious. TIP: don't go to Vegas if you have chronic-high-level-anxiety. Anyway, I was reading my book before takeoff and I sneezed, spitting out this white ball. I was like "S-H-I-T that must have been a filling!" But I didn't think the force of a sneeze could dislodge a cavity filling. I couldn't examine it because there was a man sitting next to me. Haha could you imagine? So I brushed it to the floor and continued having a mini-anxiety meltdown.

A couple of weeks later, my sister and I took a weekend trip up to Newport, RI where I learned that the same thing happens to her (sorry Julie, couldn't omit this part). She can actually get them out though. I was like WAIT! Is this bad? Do I have to get surgery? A million questions. She had gone to the doctor about it, and apparently it is not bad unless you start having chronic sore throats (which I don't).

Flash forward one year. This morning, about 2 minutes after I woke up I sneezed dislodging one of those little white balls again. This time in the privacy of my bedroom I could examine it. Gross I know, but you know you do gross shit too when you are in private.

I Googled "coughing up little white balls" and this is what it says:

Cryptic tonsils are pockets in the tonsils that accumulate food and other debris, cause bad breath and occasionally sore throat. Cryptic tonsils are also called tonsil stones, tonsilloliths, fetid tonsils and chronic caseous tonsillitis.

You can get cryptic tonsils because you have naturally "wrinkly" tonsils, which are more prone to trap food. Other debris can accumulate in these holes in your tonsils as well, including pus and a bacteria that produces volatile sulfur compounds and creates halitosis (bad breath). Of all the causes of bad breath, cryptic tonsils only account or about 3% of cases, though.

There are a couple of options for treating cryptic tonsils, depending on the severity of the condition.

• Some individuals use water picks to remove the debris, although there isn't much research on the safety of this practice. 
• Another treatment for cryptic tonsils is CO(2) laser cryptolysis. This is an in-office procedure which uses a laser beam to ablate (get rid of) the pockets in the tonsils. The patient is given a local anesthetic to prevent pain and the procedure takes about 20 minutes. Cryptic tonsils and bad breath may be cured the first time this procedure is performed, but some individuals may need the procedure a second time.
• The last option to treat cryptic tonsils is a tonsillectomy. Removing the tonsils is effective virtually 100 percent of the time, but the surgery has risks that must be considered. Tonsillectomy is usually only recommended if you have other problems related to your tonsils such as chronic strep throat or sleep apnea.

 (Original Source)

I was like EPIPHANY! THIS IS WHY I HAVE HAD BAD BREATH! So I choked myself for about 10 minutes trying to see if there were any more back there. No luck. But I am going to ask my BF if my breaf still stinks.

Haha, good morning! hope you have a lovely day!