Tonsil Stone Treatment and Bad Breath Prevention

Tonsil stones treatment

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Tonsillotomy, or laser tonsil cryptolysis – treatment for tonsil stones, bad breath, tonsillitis

 

How can you remove tonsil stones?

Tonsil stones can be removed by many techniques, including the use of picks, cotton buds, water jets, etc., to remove them. Patients usually want a long-term cure, however. This can usually be achieved by tonsillotomy or tonsillectomy. However, since most patients are adults, they tend to be well aware of the issues with traditional adult tonsillectomy – severe pain for 3 weeks, significant weight loss since eating is too painful for several days, and haemorrhage, which can be severe and require hospitalisation and emergency surgery. Hence, the technique of tonsillotomy.

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What is tonsillotomy?

Tonsillotomy is where the tonsils are vapourised away under local anaesthetic – using spray only, no injections. Lasers for tonsil stones removal are therefore very popular. This partial removal aims to vapourise away the crypts, cracks, crevices etc which are the cause of tonsil stones, whilst preserving a significant amount of tonsil tissue, in particular the tonsil capsule. This means the muscular bed and blood vessels of the tonsils are not exposed – so pain is vastly reduced, and, in our series of over 400 tonsillotomies under local anaesthetic, not a single patient has needed admission or emergency re-treatment.

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Tonsillotomy - or laser tonsil cryptolysis - removes up to 50% of the tonsils in any one attempt, depending on the size of the tonsils. To remove more risks bleeding and pain during the procedure. If the crypts and cracks of the tonsils are very deep, more than one tonsillotomy may be required to adequately treat the disease. 40% of patients do well with one procedure only. Tonsillotomy also treats tonsillitis – as the size of the tonsils reduces, so does the severity of tonsillitis. This is used in patients who need to minimise time off work, or do not want a general anaesthetic laser tonsillectomy.

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This treatment is called a “lunchtime procedure.” You go to work in the morning, come in at lunchtime for the procedure, which takes 15 – 20 minutes, spend 30 minutes in recovery, having pulse and blood pressure checks, something to eat and drink, then go straight back to work. No time off is required during the next few days as the tonsil surface heals. Painkillers are not prescribed by the Hospital. Simple over-the-counter medication such as paracetamol or ibuprofen are all that is required. The procedure itself if performed sitting upright in a dental-type chair. The local anaesthetic spray wears off 10 minutes or so after the procedure has been completed.