Definition: Calcifications in the tonsillar crypts.
Clinical Features: Tonsiliths clinically present as yellow-white stones in the tonsillar crypts. They range in size from millimeters to centimeters. A few studies have linked tonsiliths with halitosis (bad breath). I have been told tonsiliths ‘smell like death’ from a person who had them come out while rinsing their mouth with Listerine.
Radiographic Features:
| 2D | CBCT | |
| Location: | Superimposed over the ramus and angle of the mandible on pantomographs | Axial and Coronal views = lateral to airway and medial to ramus of mandible |
| Edge: | Well-defined, smooth to irregular outline | Well-defined, smooth to irregular outline |
| Shape: | Round to irregular masses | Round to irregular masses |
| Internal: | Radiopaque | Radiopaque |
| Other: | Unilateral or bilateral | Unilateral or bilateral |
| Number: | Single or multiple | Single or multiple |
Tonsiliths – 2D
(1st image = bilateral with arrows and 2nd image without arrows)
Tonsiliths – Bilateral
Tonsiliths – CBCT
More examples in case of the week posts
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