If you’ve ever pulled out a yellowish, hardened stone from behind your tonsils before, then you’re amongst the many people who get tonsil stones.

Gross Science explains that these nasty build-ups are made up of dead cells, mucus, and food stuck in the crevices of you tonsils. People are more prone to these suckers if they have tonsillitis or really big tonsils with many crevices.

Most are small and harmless, but the larger the tonsil stone may be the more prone you may become to ear infections and sore throats. Even worse, tonsil stones cause major bad breath since they are the perfect feast for bacteria and other microbes.

It may seem gross but in one small study of 150 CT scans of the head, 24 percent of people had tonsil stones. Who knows, you might have one hiding in the back of your throat right now!

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