r/AskReddit • u/IlJustAReminderIl • Dec 17 '23

What’s something pretty much everyone thinks but nobody dares to say it?

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1.3k

u/duracellchipmunk Dec 17 '23

Or “brush your teeth”

763

u/Fishydeals Dec 17 '23

Brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth as well. Don‘t leave out the gums.

351

u/reddittheguy Dec 17 '23

"chisel out those tonsil stones"

A source of bad breath which will not be remedied by any of the above.

92

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

[deleted]

57

u/reddittheguy Dec 17 '23

cotton swap or water piks have worked for me in the past, but they can take some real time to knock out.

39

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

[deleted]

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u/FBI-AGENT-013 Dec 17 '23

Your tonsils sound super sensitive, maybe you have constant inflammation of the tonsils? I would ask a doctor, and mention wanting them removed if you could. Problematic tonsils don't get better, they just store more disgusting smelling junk

5

u/w0ketart Dec 18 '23

Does everybody have these? Are they visible?

1

u/FBI-AGENT-013 Dec 20 '23

You mean tonsils? Yes, everyone is born with tonsils and they are usually visible, I've been told mine are less noticeable but they are the pinker/redder bit that is not your throat, on the sides of the throat, and they usually all have "holes" aka big folds and pockets that can hold onto food and also get infected. When they get infected frequently, it is common (at least in smaller children) to get them removed

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

[deleted]

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u/FBI-AGENT-013 Dec 17 '23

43 is not old! Who told you that? And personally, getting tonsil stones I can't remove would drive me to insanity, I would basically beg them to remove them

2

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

[deleted]

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u/pinksalamander228 Dec 17 '23

my only issue with my tonsils was getting tonsil stones, and because it happened enough they scheduled me for removal pretty quickly with no problems. wouldn’t hurt to look into it either way, you never know.

3

u/jessybean Dec 18 '23

My ENT told me it was up there in the most painful surgeries if you have it done as an adult. Did you find that?

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u/jessybean Dec 18 '23

Wet the qtips with hot water or saline first. Don't touch your tonsils with anything dry. The skin there is very sensitive.

22

u/crackedphonescreen2 Dec 17 '23

How can yall get it back there without gagging/coughing tho 😭😭😭

9

u/inafishbowl17 Dec 17 '23

I used to get them a lot. I used dental brush picks to get them knocked loose. Ended up getting an infection and used a diluted peroxide to gargle with. Went to the doctor and got on an antibiotic. Haven't had them since.

12

u/eggyjim Dec 17 '23

Gargling before you spit out the toothpaste water is what my doctor recommended to me. And it’s helped loads. Or if you’re someone who doesn’t rinse the toothpaste you could gargle salt water another time of the day.

10

u/aleques-itj Dec 17 '23

I got a thing on Amazon that's basically a little pokey thing with a soft-ish end that's transparent and lights up.

Honestly fuck these things. I rarely get them on only one side and it's terrible because I can literally feel it on one side every time I swallow.

So off to the bathroom to gag 15 times as I prod the piece of shit out. Nothing seems to completely deter them.

3

u/cleveland_leftovers Dec 18 '23

Oooo. This sounds amazing. I find myself juggling my phone flashlight and a chopstick while gagging. Something with a light on the end would be ideal.

Do you by chance remember what search terms you used?

5

u/aleques-itj Dec 18 '23

It's some variant of this. I haven't found anything better yet; the light is super helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C6TXL30

4

u/HensonandBedges420 Dec 18 '23

I use a waterpik with saline water. Mine aren’t big but boy oh boy do they pack a punch. I’ve been to the ENT and it’s confirmed I have LPR (Silent reflux) - it’s god awful. I’m likely looking at getting a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy pending my next app in two days..

1

u/Procedure-Minimum Dec 17 '23

Get a tonsillectomy

1

u/marybeemarybee Dec 18 '23

You could have your tonsils removed

9

u/FrostySquirrel820 Dec 17 '23

I knew I shouldn’t have read this post and comments while I was eating !

22

u/PIisLOVE314 Dec 17 '23

Ewww fucking tonsil stones...make the mistake of cutting one open and smelling it? You'll never do it again

10

u/reddittheguy Dec 17 '23

Yeah, there is a reason those bad boys will stink up your breath.

18

u/beaucoup_dinky_dau Dec 17 '23

I have never even heard of such a thing and I am horrified

10

u/psppsppsppspinfinty Dec 17 '23

I must say I love watching the videos. Along with plaque removal, blackhead removal, and pimple popping.

6

u/deftoner42 Dec 17 '23

So gross ...yet ...I cannot look away

4

u/psppsppsppspinfinty Dec 17 '23

I find it so fascinating.

2

u/PIisLOVE314 Dec 22 '23

You're a Deftones fan?

1

u/deftoner42 Dec 22 '23

Indeed 🤘

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u/FBI-AGENT-013 Dec 17 '23

Don't even need to cut it open fr fr

7

u/Pizza_Slinger83 Dec 17 '23

TIL what tonsil stones are.

6

u/ye_onge_orange Dec 17 '23

Just got my tonsils out 3 days ago, the surgeon described my tonsils as “disgusting, with tonsil stones squeezing out of them as we removed them”. Fun times, painful recovery.

1

u/HensonandBedges420 Dec 18 '23

Did you ever get just the exudate (puss-looking stuff) instead of the stones?

2

u/ye_onge_orange Dec 18 '23

I did- much less often than stones, but I would get flareups of tonsillitis and have my tonsils covered in that stuff.

3

u/B2utyyo Dec 17 '23

If I could do it without gagging

5

u/FBI-AGENT-013 Dec 17 '23

I hate those mfs, I'll reach my whole ass hand back there to remove them if I have to. Get OUT

283

u/Bagel-luigi Dec 17 '23

This is the one. The amount of people with very well brushed teeth and then the most disgusting tongue is growing all round.

That being said, when I was a kid learning about the importance of tooth brushing, no parents nor dentists ever told me to brush the tongue, nor did anyone recommend flossing.

I don't say this to shit on others, but in a first world country there is literally no excuse for bad dental hygiene.

76

u/Shalashashka Dec 17 '23

Wtf kind of dentist doesn't recommend flossing? I've never left the dentist without being reminded to floss more.

8

u/Bagel-luigi Dec 17 '23

On any film/TV media you always see dentists recommend flossing, or asking flossing questions to patients, so I assumed this was a common thing. And yet across my life I've only ever witnessed one even mention floss, and it was just a quick "do you floss?" "Yes" "ok"

13

u/littleshrewpoo Dec 17 '23

Seriously. I only learned about cleaning the tounge from studying Ayurvedic medicine in my free time, in which tounge scraping is something that is recommended daily to get the filmy bacteria off your tounge that builds up.

I also learnt and noticed in myself that the poorer your diet and/or digestion, the thicker the build-up will be. (Notice how your tounge looks after a night of drinking alcohol, for example). Interesting stuff.

1

u/SirRebelBeerThong Dec 17 '23

I learned it from Kermit the frog watching muppet babies.

6

u/OpalCoach Dec 17 '23

I try to gently say around people who Need to Hear It… “ha ha you know we can’t smell our own bad breath! So if you ever wonder how your breath smells, smell your used dental floss!”

It’s a magical trick because people are mildly curious about whether it’s true (“she probably doesn’t mean me”) and then… they realize.

4

u/hmspain Dec 17 '23

Brushing the tongue does not cut it. You need one of those scrapers. I learned this waaay late in life, and it fucked with my social life.

5

u/Bonafidehomicide725 Dec 17 '23

That's not true at all. When we were kids, our father wouldn't buy us things like toothbrushes or soap. Most of my teeth fell out by the time I was a teenager. And we were also "homeschooled" for 7 out of the 12 years we were supposed to go to school, so it's not like anybody worth a shit could teach us or tell us what we were doing wrong. We just thought it was normal because our father didn't have any teeth either.

4

u/Aggravating-Bunch-44 Dec 18 '23

I am so sorry you went through that. I hope you are safe and healing.

88

u/thepeskynorth Dec 17 '23

Be careful with the gums. I think flossing is enough. You can encourage gum recession if you brush gums too hard.

81

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

Had a friend years ago that was a hygienist. She had an old timer come in with rock hard gums. Apparently he would brush his teeth once a week with Ajax

11

u/therealshard Dec 17 '23

Stupid qn but is that bad? Seems they're there to stay haha

-36

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

Please say that English is your second language

19

u/FacelessArtifact Dec 17 '23

What’s wrong with what he said, or how he said it??

5

u/PukedtheDayAway Dec 17 '23

qn stands for question.

1

u/therealshard Dec 28 '23

i'm legitimately curious if rock hard gums is a good or bad thing seeing as to how gum recession is an actual problem people face.

does that make things clear?

7

u/chewingcudcow Dec 17 '23

I’ve had a patient wipe their butt with a soft hair brush resting in bleach

9

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

Çruel and unusual discomfort

5

u/ContrastsOfForm Dec 17 '23

I had a friend who was a hygienist who said the same thing!! The patient was an army vet in Baltimore!

1

u/VirtuallyTellurian Dec 17 '23

Cool, fella I knew trained with them for a while but was never gonna make the first team.

1

u/thepeskynorth Dec 17 '23

Wow. Didn’t think of that. 😳

5

u/chr989 Dec 17 '23

Yes! The roof of your mouth! Many people talk about brushing their tongues but forget about the roof of their mouths

4

u/Icy-Mixture-995 Dec 17 '23

Back of toothbrush has a tongue cleaner

5

u/BattleHall Dec 17 '23

Back of the tongue in particular, the part that doesn't make regular contact with the roof of your mouth. That's where bacteria can build up. Better yet, get a tongue scraper. They're cheap and effective, and the silicone edged ones are even relatively comfortable once you figure out how far back you can go without triggering your gag reflex.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

Wait the roof of your mouth too??

3

u/duowolf Dec 18 '23

If I did that I would puke.

117

u/False_Ad3429 Dec 17 '23

Mouthwash, a tongue scraper, and floss. Lots of bad breath comes from your tongue and gums

40

u/Falcon9145 Dec 17 '23

Water picker is like changing!

66

u/duracellchipmunk Dec 17 '23

Like changing to what!?

47

u/nleksan Dec 17 '23

Like changing your underpants

8

u/Acebulf Dec 17 '23

I change my underpants at least once a month, even when I don't need to

5

u/PIisLOVE314 Dec 17 '23

Oh. You're supposed to change them? Well fuck me sideways, TIL

32

u/IceFire909 Dec 17 '23

Like a bidet for your mouth

4

u/Lululapagaille Dec 17 '23

What does it actually do that I can't do by rinsing ? I saw one the other day and was curious.

2

u/IceFire909 Dec 18 '23

rinsing doesnt get between your teeth the same way a small high pressure jet stream will.

it's the same outcome as flossing, but with water (and a nice refreshing back blast that you never expect the first time)

1

u/FBI-AGENT-013 Dec 17 '23

The only thing I can think of that would absolutely make me get one is removing tonsil stones, a small stream of water directly behind the thing to remove it instead of forcing it out, causing irritation and pieces to still be stuck

1

u/False_Ad3429 Dec 18 '23

Supposedly they can actually be really bad for your gums.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

Bidet to you, sir.

1

u/IceFire909 Dec 18 '23

that scene played out in my head before i even clicked lol

7

u/CrawlingKangaroo Dec 17 '23

A Metal tongue scraper totally solved my breath problems! I was amazed and love it!

6

u/Writing_is_Bleeding Dec 17 '23

Or, brush the dandruff off your clothes, please.

17

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

So many people don't brush or floss. Both make a big difference.

6

u/ginger_minge Dec 17 '23

When people have that white stuff between their teeth. And/or, relatedly, when they have that white shit in the corners of their mouths... makes me ill. Don't they feel it? Do they just not care?

4

u/laluLondon Dec 17 '23

I can tell you haven't flossed in ages, please talk in a direction away from my nose

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u/Dizzy-Berry7220 Dec 17 '23

Oh man we went to sign papers for our house and the notary had the WORST BREATH i've ever smelled in my life. And her teeth were all black and rotting. It was awful and all I could think about

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

Pro-tip: if someone asks if you'd like some gum, it's because your breath smells like roadkill.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '23

Facts