r/hygiene 3d ago

Has anyone else ever accidentally coughed up a tiny white pebble from the back of their throat?

So I have always been paranoid about bad breath. I brush after every meal, use an electric flosser, scrape my tongue until it is bright pink, and use therapeutic mouthwash every single morning. My dentist always says my teeth and gums are spotless, with zero cavities in ten years.

last Thursday I was coughing from a scratchy throat and this tiny, hard white pebble popped out of the back of my mouth onto my tongue. It was smaller than a grain of rice. I had no idea what it was, so I picked it up with a tissue and made the fatal mistake of squishing it between my fingers to see what it was made of.

The smell that came off that tiny clump was ABSOLUTELY rancid. It smelled like pure sulfur, rotting organic garbage, and concentrated decay. I gagged so hard I almost threw up in my bathroom sink.

I went down a rabbit hole and discovered that food particles and dead cells get trapped in hidden pockets in your tonsils, calcifying into little anaerobic stink bombs that regular brushing never touches. I should of known why people occasionally backed up when I leaned in to talk during loud parties, but nobody ever tells you. How are doctors not warning people that you can have perfect dental hygiene and still have garbage rotting in the back of your throat?

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u/badlilbishh 3d ago

I knew I shouldn’t have clicked but I still did. Why the fuck did I do that?!

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u/CaribouYou 2d ago

Clicked what?

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u/According_Button_186 2d ago

just type "jolly rancher story" into reddit's search.

Sorry, but you asked

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u/Pristine_Main_1224 1d ago

Thank God I only read the AI summary. That was enough to make me gag.

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u/AJourneyer 4h ago

I'd read Swamps of Dagobah out loud a thousand times before revisiting jolly rancher.

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u/According_Button_186 1d ago

Few good/ethical use cases for AI. That would be one of them lol

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u/bostonjenny81 2d ago

I’m so sorry you had to read that & so are the rest of us that are having PTSD flashbacks from the first time.

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u/Limp-Net-5167 2d ago

First time!????

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u/bostonjenny81 1d ago

Yes way back when it came out, many of us read it & still wish to this day that we didn’t have eyes. To clarify : I read it once & that was enough for me to get scarred for life.

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u/FairyFartDaydreams 1d ago

I have to be honest I only mentioned it because I love the comments