Giant tonsillolith in a child

A Giant Tonsillolith: A Case Report

“…They may be single, multiple, unilateral or bilateral [1,2,9,10]. They are most often seen in adult patients and less common in children [4]. The mean age reported in literature is 46.2 years [5,9] (age range: 16-77 years).…”

“…The pathophysiology of formation of a tonsillolith is debatable, and many hypotheses have been formulated. The formation of tonsillolith from retained caseous secretions in the tonsillar crypts in conjunction with filaments of leptothrix buccalis or actinomyces-a common oral saprophyte is one such hypothesis [4]. Tonsilloliths are composed primarily of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate as well as other calcium salts.…”

Giant tonsillolith causing odynophagia in a child: a rare case report

“…We did 'Medline' and 'Scopus' search with keywords: 'Tonsillectomy'; Tonsillolith'; 'Child'; 'Pediatrics' and found only three reports [ 3 - 5 ] on tonsillolith in pediatric age group. Tonsilloliths are rare in pediatric age group as they occur between 20 and 77 years of age [ 10 , 13 - 15 ].…”

“…These patients usually present with bad breath odor, pain during swallowing or foreign body sensation in the throat. In English literature, there are many reports on tonsillolith in adults but we found ('Medline' and 'Scopus' search) only three reports on tonsillolith in children [ 3 - 5 ]. We report a case of giant tonsillolith and review the literature on this rare clinical finding.…”

Tonsillolith – A rare cause of halitosis and odynophagia in a 9-year-old girl

“…This may be due to underreporting of cases among pediatrics or it may be attributed to the fact that tonsillolith formation is a prolonged multifactorial process that is generally completed by adulthood. Tonsilloliths in adults are generally asymptomatic and are mostly discovered incidentally during orthopantomography and CT of the neck and head [3], while in pediatrics, tonsilloliths are symptomatic in almost all reported cases [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] with variable clinical presentations including halitosis, foul taste, sore throat, earache, foreign body sensation, and odynophagia. Symptomatic nature of tonsilloliths in children may be attributed to their size, as all reported cases in children had large calculi [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”