White spots on tonsils

What do white spots on your tonsils mean?

Tonsils are the part of our body that fights against the virus and bacteria creating infections, playing an important role in maintaining the body’s immune system, focusing on the respiratory system. They contain cells that efficiently trap the infection that tries to enter our body.

However, these very germs end up infecting the tonsils that tried to resist them. This causes painful and swollen tonsil. The tonsil can have white spots across the surface, indicating an oral infection.

What are white spots on tonsils?

White spots on tonsils seem to be straightforward and simple as a problem but it is advised not to be left untreated as the infection might spread and get worse. You should visit a doctor to avoid further complications as sometimes this can lead you to a serious injury.

Some of the on point, prominent symptoms that would warn you of white spots on tonsil are swollen glands on the neck, a dry and sore throat, white spots at the back of throat, unpleasant taste in the mouth and enlarged tonsils.

The causes leading to such a condition along with their remedies are given below:

1. Strep throat

Strep throat leads to white spots on tonsils. Strep throats are the initial signals that can bring the problem into your notice. Streptococcus is a bacterium that causes infection and turns to be a popular reason for these white spots to occur on your tonsil.

This further leads to severe sore throat that can be more painful to a person than tonsillitis. A strep throat can be pointed out through white or yellow spots on the throat and tonsils, a bright red throat on outside and a high fever. This infection usually occurs with a sudden surprise and does not have other symptoms like cold or flu in advance.

Swallowing can turn difficult at times. It is extremely important to remember that natural remedies for a strep throat infection are best if only the infection is in a mild or moderate condition. A serious infection of Streptococcus can lead to complicated diseases, if not treated properly, like rheumatic fever or kidney disease.

REMEDIES: There are various effective home remedies to get rid of these mild infections like white spots on tonsils that are caused by the problems of the strep throat like for example cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper can be used as a medicine to cure strep throat. Cayenne pepper contains capsaicin, a strong ingredient to cure throat infections.

Studies have also found that ingredient like capsaicin helps to reduce pain and calm nerves down. Mix half cup of coconut oil and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to make a home remedy of sore throat as capsaicin is strong enough to hurt your throat. Capsaicin paste can be applied on the skin of the throat as it absorbs well and help to cure the swollen lymph.

2. Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis is another reason commonly found for white spots on the tonsils. This is mainly caused when a certain bacteria or viral infection acts as an active component for the tonsils to be inflamed and infected by it.

The main symptoms according to the studies are white or yellow coating on the inflamed tonsils, difficulty in swallowing, white patches on throat, sore throat, enlarged lymph nodes and severe headaches.

REMEDIES: Emphasizing again on the fact that tonsillitis can be cured with simple home remedies if the bacterial infection has not caused a serious effect or else antibiotics will be prescribed by your doctor. Salt water gargle can be the easiest way to treat an inflamed tonsil.

Echinacea tea also helps to treat tonsils with white spots on the throat along with boosting your immune system. You could make a delicious recipe out of Echinacea tea by adding a 1 inch chopped ginger piece in hot water along with cover and leave it steep for a while. Cool this tea remedy down and to boost its medicinal value add some honey and lemon to it. To cure your tonsils faster drink this twice to thrice time a day.

 

DIET: If you have been affected by tonsillitis quite often it is advised to maintain a few days diet. For the initial days switch over to liquid diet which can ideally within five days. Fruit juices help to boost our immune system and help to fight off the infection. Until the symptoms causing pain subsides drink water and orange juice only.

You can shift to consuming fruits in the upcoming days and gradually introducing solid foods to the daily meal. Ensure that the balanced and healthy meals with the fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains to boost the body from the infection re building its immunity system. Ensure drinking plenty of liquids to prevent problems of dehydration and keep the throat well moisturized and safe from continuous itching.

Strictly avoid too much of hot drinks like coffee and tea and other carbonated drinks as they can heighten the crisis of the condition. Ice cream and popsicles can sooth a sore throat! (Sounds strange, doesn’t it?). A sore throat can be calmed through an ice cream as it can be galloped easily at one swallow. Sour and spicy foods are to be avoided while one is suffering from this. Food such as sour cream, hot sauce, yogurt and fried foods disturb the throat and can end up causing more pain.

3. Tonsilloliths

A whitish stone like bumps appearing on the tonsils are usually caused by Tonsilloliths or tonsil stones. They are white stones embedded within the tonsils and does not appear to be a problem until and unless it is followed by a throat infection.

Along with an infection it might cause fever. When mucus, bacteria and dead cells are trapped, white spots at the back of your throat are formed. Apart from white spots on the throat, the other symptoms of Tonsilloliths that are commonly found are sore throat and bad breath caused by bacteria. Other side effects like ear pain and difficulty in swallowing may appear.

REMEDIES: Salt water gargle is an effective measure that kills the bacteria and heals your throat from this painful infection.

4. Oral thrush

Oral thrush is a fungal infection that basically causes white patches on the tonsils affecting both your tongue and the back of the mouth. When an imbalance of good and bad bacteria is brought about, the yeast infection makes way to causes the oral thrush.

Oral thrush is commonly caused due to a heavy course of antibiotics. Antibiotics usually destroy the balance of micro organisms in the body and lead to the overgrowing yeast and end up affecting the mouth. There are several measures to restore the balance of the digestive system and heal the symptoms leading to oral thrush.

REMEDIES: Coconut oil works as antifungal naturally and helps to remove the white spots from your tonsils and also from the back of the throat. To make coconut oil as more of an effective remedy, you can mix one or two drops of clove or cinnamon oil along with a tablespoon of coconut oil.

For a few minutes, swish the remedial mix for a few minutes. Be careful not to swallow it down. At last spit out the mixture and rinse your mouth, preferably with warm water and brush the teeth. Keep repeating the process until all the white patches have healed from your mouth.

 

5. Mononucleosis

Mononucleosis is a type of viral infection that leads to affect the back of the mouth. It creates white spots on the tonsils. Mononucleosis or mono is sometimes transmitted by the virus known as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

This is created amongst teens through saliva in their mouth. It is difficult to understand the difference between mono and strep throat and becomes difficult to diagnose. Other symptoms of mono include tonsils and lymph nodes, sore throat, loss of appetite, fatigue and pain under the left ribs. Sore throat causes white spots on tonsils.

If a baby who is still feeding on her mother’s breast develops oral thrush then it spreads to the mother’s nipples. It would require immediate attention of both a pediatrician for the baby’s oral thrush and an oncologist for thrush on the mother’s nipples.

REMEDIES: Drinking loads of fluids and taking plenty of rest helps our body to recover from virus. In case of abdominal pain, one must avoid lifting heavy materials as this can damage the spleen.
You can gargle with salt water in addition to plenty of rest to reduce the pain of sore throat. In case of excessive pain, doctor’s referred pain killers would be the best solution.

6. Leukoplakia

Leukoplakia is a much less important cause for white spots on the tonsils in respect to the others. It usually affects people with smoking tendencies or ones who chew tobacco or people with poor fitting dentures by causing irritants in the mouth.

Leukoplakia is mostly mild but it is linked with oral cancer. The Epstein-Barr virus can also create oral hairy Leukoplakia to people with weak immune systems. This usually causes white spot not only on the throat, but also on the mouth, tongue and other areas of the mouth.

7. Tonsillar cancer

Tonsillar cancer is a type of cancer that affects the tonsils and is commonly known as squamous cell carcinoma that usually cause white patches on your tonsils. The sores at the back of the throat caused by tonsillar cancer do not usually heal.

A sore or a white patch is not the only symptom of tonsillar cancer however. Symptoms that should make you aware are pain in the mouth, severe ear pain, blood in the saliva, lump in the neck and a persistent sore throat.