Transcript: When Should You Get a Tonsillectomy? Houston ENT Explains Tonsil Removal, Tonsil Stones & Infections

A frequent question I get is, how do I know if I need a tonsillectomy? Well, there's a couple of reasons why we take out people's tonsils. Number one, they have frequent episodes of tonsillitis caused by strep. Number two, their tonsils are so big that they're causing sleep apnea. And number three, if they're so bad that you're getting frequent tonsil stones causing bad breath and irritation, that one is a little bit of a soft criteria.

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Because some people are able to get those tonsil stones out with, uh, water picks or with gargling and they don't cause that many problems. So they're not really willing to go through a very painful surgery for something that's more of a nuisance than, uh, anything else. For tons chronic tonsillitis, the typical recommendation is after seven episodes of tonsillitis per year for one year, five episodes of tonsillitis per year for two years.

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Or three episodes of tonsillitis for three years. Anything more than that, it's time to get those tonsils out for sleep apnea. It's if those tonsils are so big that they're obstructing your airway and causing you to have sleep apnea frequently, we will get a test, uh, whether that's in a lab or at home, to see if you have sleep apnea.

And if you do, it may be time to get those guys out. I hope that helps. I'm Dr. Herman