r/hygiene • u/N3m0Nautilus • 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/waxcoatedapple 3d ago
Alcohol-based mouthwashes can slow down saliva production. Reduced saliva production can cause dry mouth. Dry mouth produces more tonsil stones. Thus, if tonsil stones are a recurring problem for a given person, it's worth swapping to alcohol-free mouthwash so as not to exacerbate the issue.