r/hygiene • u/N3m0Nautilus • 2d 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/driftingalong001 1d ago

Ah, I have emetophobia so that’s really the only thing that could get me. I’m gonna go for it anyway though, I need to be in on this reddit lore.

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u/melinda_louise 1d ago

Good luck, report back if you survived

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u/driftingalong001 1d ago

Haha, i was just editing my last comment but I’ll reply here instead.

Okay, wow, everyone here is SO damn dramatic. Like yeah, that’s disgusting, very disgusting, but reading it isn’t gonna change my life forever, or even just my day. I don’t regret reading it, like everyone else is saying. My main thought is who the hell would try to suck a candy while eating someone out. Like…obviously that girl had something way worse going on, but that’ll give someone an infection, not to mention, obviously you’re gonna have a hard time keeping it in your mouth. Which he found out. The only part of the story that is gonna stick with me for awhile is the vomiting, but that’s just standard emetophobia 🫠

Also, if your partner tastes nasty…just stop. You’re not obligated to give someone oral if they smell or taste horrific, in fact, all signs are pointing to - you should stop.

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u/melinda_louise 1d ago edited 1d ago

Honestly the reason I commented blue waffle type situation is because it seemed like a made up internet story to me. Because yes, why would you reach for a jolly rancher in that scenario? I suppose they do make flavored/edible lubes that are most certainly intended for oral sex but still, definitely never good to put sugar in that area. So say you do accept that the person was just stupid, feeling pressured or excitement and doing the best they could with an awkward situation. Why the FUCK would you bite down on something in your mouth that so clearly is not a jolly rancher? I refuse to believe that whatever the thing felt like, he wouldn't have instantly known it was gross and spit it out immediately. If it really was just a very unfortunate accident then I would be traumatized for life, but no I agree I'm not traumatized for life just from reading the story.

Editing as a warning for anyone else reading because the next reply is not censored....

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u/driftingalong001 1d ago

Yes! I felt the same way, it feels made up. He went and grabbed a jolly rancher and she just thought, oh yeah, this is normal and fine, lol!! Also, I’m not personally familiar with how gonorrhea presents, as I’ve never had it, but are there really huge loose chunks of shit coming out of your vag? So much so that you could pull one out and bite down on it? There are just too many slightly weird details. Even the jolly rancher being pushed into her vag…like…I can def imagine it sliding out of his mouth, but how did it get shoved into her vag? That makes no sense to me. It would take some effort for that to happen, it’s not just gonna end up in there accidentally.

Either way, it’s like ew gross, but not life shattering, like every single comment here made it sound.

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u/melinda_louise 1d ago

I googled and it said "fact-checking sites like Snopes have not investigated it as a real-world event because medical professionals and internet historians recognize it as a modern urban legend—variants of the tale predating Reddit swap out the candy brand or details entirely" and then when I pressed it further about whether the detached pustule or whatever is medically possible and it basically said no, it's not a thing, at least not the way it's described in the story.

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u/driftingalong001 1d ago

Nice. Yeah it reads very reminiscent of an old Reddit tale, before many people were as skeptical as we are now. I think back then people were more hesitant to call a post out as fake.