No, the ones I’ve seem look like a curd in cottage cheese only slighty yellower and sometimes a bit rounder.
They help trap bacterai and other nasties thast may make their way down to the lungs if not caught. So, by not having tonsills, you are more prone to lung infections.
I saw a picture of some tonsil stones in Scientific American a few years back; they were brownish and didn’t look like mine at all. I have noticed that the stones change color and shape drastically when exposed to the air for awhile though; I’m assuming that the ones I saw in the magazine had done that.
If you want to see gross, do an image search on google for “tonsillolith.” I’m sorry but the pictures are so repulsive I can’t open them again to copy the links. You’ll have to search yourself. The x-rays come from a medical journal article on a “giant tonsillolith.” Read at your own risk.
There’s also a revolting picture in that link Lee provided earlier - 'round about Page 7 there’s a post from someone who provides the address for a Japanese Web page with some stomach-churning picture.
Again, I am sorry not to provide direct links but those horrifying things have imprinted on my brain as it is and just thinking about them is making me very very ill. I have to go think of flowers of puppies or something equally pleasant right now.
Yes, I’ve noticed that they shrink up dramatically once they’re out in the air.
The stone in my left tonsil is high up behind the tonsillar arch. It’s not going to budge anytime soon.
“Dr Philip Stemmer, a private dentist working at the Fresh Breath Centre” - the happiest place on earth!
EEEWWW!!!
Yep, that’s exactly what mine look like.
Disgusting but accurate.