-
Frontiers in Public Health 2022Mouth breathing is one of the most common deleterious oral habits in children. It often results from upper airway obstruction, making the air enter completely or... (Review)
Review
Mouth breathing is one of the most common deleterious oral habits in children. It often results from upper airway obstruction, making the air enter completely or partially through oral cavity. In addition to nasal obstruction caused by various kinds of nasal diseases, the pathological hypertrophy of adenoids and/or tonsils is often the main etiologic factor of mouth breathing in children. Uncorrected mouth breathing can result in abnormal dental and maxillofacial development and affect the health of dentofacial system. Mouth breathers may present various types of growth patterns and malocclusion, depending on the exact etiology of mouth breathing. Furthermore, breathing through the oral cavity can negatively affect oral health, increasing the risk of caries and periodontal diseases. This review aims to provide a summary of recent publications with regard to the impact of mouth breathing on dentofacial development, describe their consistencies and differences, and briefly discuss potential reasons behind inconsistent findings.
Topics: Adenoids; Child; Humans; Malocclusion; Maxillofacial Development; Mouth Breathing; Palatine Tonsil
PubMed: 36159237
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.929165 -
Ear, Nose, & Throat Journal Mar 2024There has been a subjective increase in the number of patients presenting for tonsil stones to our pediatric otolaryngology clinic. This may be related to frequent...
There has been a subjective increase in the number of patients presenting for tonsil stones to our pediatric otolaryngology clinic. This may be related to frequent viewing of videos on the social media application, TikTok, pertaining to tonsil stones.
Topics: Child; Humans; Palatine Tonsil; Tonsillitis; Social Media; Pharyngeal Diseases
PubMed: 34569296
DOI: 10.1177/01455613211038340 -
Danish Medical Journal Mar 2017PTA is a collection of pus located between the tonsillar capsule and the pharyngeal constrictor muscle. It is considered a complication of acute tonsillitis and is the... (Review)
Review
PTA is a collection of pus located between the tonsillar capsule and the pharyngeal constrictor muscle. It is considered a complication of acute tonsillitis and is the most prevalent deep neck infection (approximately 2000 cases annually in Denmark) and cause of acute admission to Danish ENT departments. Teenagers and young adults are most commonly affected and males may predominate over females. However, no studies of age- and gender-stratified incidence rates have previously been published. Furthermore, smoking may be associated with increased risk of peritonsillar abscess (PTA) development, although the magnitude of the association has not been estimated. Complications are relatively rare. They include parapharyngeal abscess (PPA), upper airway obstruction, Lemierre´s syndrome, necrotizing fasciitis, mediastinitis, erosion of the internal carotid artery, brain abscess, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. The treatment consists of abscess drainage and antimicrobial therapy. There are three accepted methods of surgical intervension: needle aspiration, incision and drainage (ID), and acute tonsillectomy (á chaud). Internationally, there is a strong trend towards less invasive surgical approach to PTA treatment with avoidance of acute tonsillectomy, needle aspiration instead of ID, and in some cases even antibiotic treatment without surgical drainage. The preferred antibiotic regimen varies greatly between countries and centers. Group A streptococcus (GAS) is the only established pathogen in PTA. However, GAS is only recovered from approximately 20% of PTA patients. The pathogens in the remaining 80% are unknown. Culturing of PTA pus aspirates often yields a polymicrobial mixture of aerobes and anaerobes. As the tonsils of healthy individuals are already heavily and diversely colonized, the identification of significant pathogens is challenging. In addition, when studying PTA microbiology, one must consider diagnostic precision, collection, handling, and transportation of appropriate specimens, choice of methodology for detection and quantification of microorganisms, current or recent antibiotic treatment of patients, potential shift in significant pathogens during the course of infection, and factors associated with increased risk of PTA development. The trend towards de-escalated surgical intervention and increasing reliance on antibiotic treatment, require studies defining the significant pathogens in PTA in order to determine optimal antibiotic regimens. Complications secondary to PTA may be avoided or better controlled with improved knowledge concerning the significant pathogens in PTA. Furthermore, identification of pathogens other than GAS, may lead the way for earlier bacterial diagnosis and timely intervention before abscess formation in sore throat patients. The identification and quantification of risk factors for PTA development constitutes another approach to reduce the incidence of PTA. As clinicians, we noticed that FN was recovered from PTA patients with increasing frequency and that patients infected with Fusobacterium necrophorum (FN) seemed to be more severely affected than patients infected with other bacteria. Furthermore, we occationally observed concomitant PPA in addition to a PTA, which made us hypothesize that PPA and PTA is often closely related and may share significant pathogens. Hence, our aims were: 1. To explore the microbiology of PTA with a special attention to Fusobacterium necrophorum (FN). 2. To elucidate whether smoking, age, gender, and seasons are risk factors for the development of PTA. 3. To characterize patients with PPA, explore the relationship between PPA and PTA, identify the pathogens associated with PPA, and review our management of PPA. In a retrospective study on all 847 PTA patients admitted to the ENT department at Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) from 2001 to 2006, we found that FN was the most prevalent (23%) bacterial strain in pus specimens. FN-positive patients displayed significantly higher infection markers (CRP and neutrophil counts) than patients infected with other bacteria (P = 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively). In a subsequent prospective and comparative study on 36 PTA patients and 80 patients undergoing elective tonsillectomy (controls), we recovered FN from 58% of PTA aspirates. Furthermore, FN was detected significantly more frequently in the tonsillar cores of PTA patients (56%) compared to the tonsillar cores of the controls (24%) (P = 0.001). We also analysed sera taken acutely and at least two weeks after surgery for the presence of anti-FN antibodies. We found increasing levels (at least two-fold) of anti-FN antibodies in eight of 11 FN-positive (in the tonsillar cultures) PTA patients, which was significantly more frequent compared to none of four FN-negative PTA patients and nine of 47 electively tonsillectomized controls (P = 0.026 and P < 0.001, respectively). Blood cultures obtained during acute tonsillectomy mirrored the bacterial findings in the tonsillar specimens with 22% of patients having bacteremia with FN. However, bacteremia during elective tonsillectomy was at least as prevalent as bacteremia during quinsy tonsillectomy, which challenges the distinction made by the European Society of Cardiology between quinsy and elective tonsillectomy, namely that antibiotic prophylaxis is only recommended to patients undergoing procedures to treat an established infection (i.e. PTA). Using PCR analysis for the presence of herpes simplex 1 and 2, adenovirus, influenza A and B, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and respiratory syncytial virus A and B, we explored a possible role of viruses in PTA. However, our results did not indicate that any of these viruses are involved in the development of PTA. Privious studies have documented an association between EBV and PTA in approximately 4% of PTA cases. In addition to the involvement of GAS, the following findings suggest a pathogenic role for FN in PTA: 1. Repeated high isolation rates of FN in PTA pus aspirates. 2. Higher isolation rates in PTA patients compared to electively tonsillectomised controls. 3. Development of anti-FN antibodies in FN-positive patients with PTA. 4. Significantly higher inflammatory markers in FN-positive patients compared to PTA patients infected with other bacteria. We studied the smoking habits among the same 847 PTA patients admitted to the ENT department, AUH from 2001 to 2006. We found that smoking was associated with increased risk of PTA for both genders and across all age groups. The increased risk of PTA among smokers was not related to specific bacteria. Conclusions on causality cannot be drawn from this retrospective study, but the pathophysiology behind the increased risk of PTA in smokers may be related to, previously shown, alterations in the tonsillar, bacterial flora or the local and systemical inflammatory and immunological milieu. Studying all 1,620 patients with PTA in Aarhus County from 2001 to 2006 and using population data for Aarhus County for the same six years, age- and gender-stratified mean annual incidence rates of PTA were calculated. The incidence of PTA was highly related to age and gender. The seasonal variation of PTA was insignificant. However, the microbiology of PTA fluctuated with seasons: GAS-positive PTA cases were significantly more prevalent in the winter and spring compared to the summer, while FN-positive PTA patients exhibited a more even distribution over the year, but with a trend towards higher prevalence in the summer than in the winter. In a series of 63 patients with PPA, we found that 33 (52%) patients had concomitant PTA. This association between PPA and PTA was much higher than previously documented. We therefore suggest that combined tonsillectomy and intrapharyngeal incision in cases where PTA is present or suspected. The results of our routine cultures could not support a frequent role of FN in PPA. Based on our findings suggesting that FN is a frequent pathogen in PTA, we recommend clindamycin instead of a macrolide in penicillin-allergic patients with PTA. Furthermore, cultures made from PTA aspirates should include a selective FN-agar plate in order to identify growth of this bacterium. Recent studies of sore throat patients document an association between recovery of FN and acute tonsillitis. Studying the bacterial flora of both tonsils in study II, we found almost perfect concordance between the bacterial findings of the tonsillar core at the side of the abscess and contralaterally. This finding suggests that FN is not a subsequent overgrowth phenomenon after abscess development, but that FN can act as pathogen in severe acute tonsillitis. Future studies of patients with FN-positive acute tonsillitis focusing on the optimal methods (clinical characteristics, culture, polymerase chain reaction, or other) for diagnosis and whether antibiotics (and which) can reduce symptoms and avoid complications are warranted. Until further studies are undertaken, we recommend clinicians to have increased focus on acute tonsillitis patients aged 15-24 years with regards to symptoms and findings suggestive of incipient peritonsillar involvement. We have conducted a number of studies with novel findings: 1. FN is a significant and prevalent pathogen in PTA. 2. Bacteremia during abscess tonsillectomy is no more prevalent than during elective tonsillectomy. 3. The development of anti-FN antibodies in FN-positive PTA patients. We have used novel approaches as principles to suggest pathogenic significance of candidate microorganisms: 1. Comparative microbiology between PTA patients and "normal tonsils". 2. Measurements indicating larger inflammatory response compared to clinically equivalent infection.
Topics: Abscess; Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Child; Female; Fusobacterium Infections; Fusobacterium necrophorum; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Palatine Tonsil; Peritonsillar Abscess; Pharyngeal Diseases; Risk Factors; Seasons; Sex Factors; Smoking; Streptococcal Infections; Streptococcus pyogenes; Young Adult
PubMed: 28260599
DOI: No ID Found -
Pneumologie (Stuttgart, Germany) Apr 2020Sleep disordered breathing disorders in children are of a high clinical relevance. They do not only affect a large proportion of the children's lives in terms of time...
Sleep disordered breathing disorders in children are of a high clinical relevance. They do not only affect a large proportion of the children's lives in terms of time but they impact on the thriving, cardiovascular function and cognitive development. Different developmental factors have to be considered in the interpretation of sleep studies in children. Adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy is the most frequent reason for paediatric sleep disordered breathing, however the spectrum of aetiologies is very large. Syndromic cranio facial malformations and metabolic disorders are often associated with a very high risk of relevant sleep disordered breathing. Correct and child-oriented diagnostics are essential to enable adequate therapy.
Topics: Child; Humans; Palatine Tonsil; Polysomnography; Sleep Apnea Syndromes; Snoring; Tonsillitis
PubMed: 32274782
DOI: 10.1055/a-0977-6236 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2021Tonsil hyperplasia is the most common cause of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Despite the growing knowledge in tissue immunology of tonsils, the...
Tonsil hyperplasia is the most common cause of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Despite the growing knowledge in tissue immunology of tonsils, the immunopathology driving tonsil hyperplasia and OSA remains unknown. Here we used multi-parametric flow cytometry to analyze the composition and phenotype of tonsillar innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), T cells, and B cells from pediatric patients with OSA, who had previous polysomnography. Unbiased clustering analysis was used to delineate and compare lymphocyte heterogeneity between two patient groups: children with small tonsils and moderate OSA (n = 6) or large tonsils and very severe OSA (n = 13). We detected disturbed ILC and B cell proportions in patients with large tonsils, characterized by an increase in the frequency of naïve CD27CD21 B cells and a relative reduction of ILCs. The enrichment of naïve B cells was not commensurate with elevated Ki67 expression, suggesting defective differentiation and/or migration rather than cellular proliferation to be the causative mechanism. Finally, yet importantly, we provide the flow cytometry data to be used as a resource for additional translational studies aimed at investigating the immunological mechanisms of pediatric tonsil hyperplasia and OSA.
Topics: Child, Preschool; Female; Flow Cytometry; Humans; Hyperplasia; Immunity, Innate; Lymphocytes; Male; Memory B Cells; Palatine Tonsil; Receptors, CXCR5; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive; Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7
PubMed: 34745084
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.674080 -
BMJ Case Reports Sep 2018Upper aerodigestive tract involvement with tuberculosis is relatively rare and may be seen in up to 2% of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Isolated tonsil...
Upper aerodigestive tract involvement with tuberculosis is relatively rare and may be seen in up to 2% of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Isolated tonsil involvement with tuberculosis is not commonly seen in clinical practice. We report a case of a 22-year-old postpartum mother who presented with odynophagia, fever, loss of weight and submandibular swelling of 3 months' duration. Clinical examination revealed a submandibular node, and oropharyngeal examination revealed necrotic slough overlying an enlarged left tonsil. Fine-needle aspiration cytology of the node and histopathological examination of the left tonsillectomy specimen revealed necrotising epithelioid cell granulomas, and stain for acid-fast bacilli was positive in the latter. She was diagnosed with tonsillar tuberculosis and was started on antituberculous treatment following which she improved clinically. This case serves to demonstrate an uncommon presentation of primary tuberculosis and reminds us to consider tuberculosis also as a microbiological aetiology for tonsillitis.
Topics: Female; Humans; Palatine Tonsil; Puerperal Disorders; Tonsillitis; Tuberculosis; Young Adult
PubMed: 30249724
DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2017-223634 -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Feb 2022Deciphering immune responses to viruses and vaccines using human tonsil organoids.
Deciphering immune responses to viruses and vaccines using human tonsil organoids.
Topics: Adaptive Immunity; Humans; Immunogenicity, Vaccine; Organoids; Palatine Tonsil; Vaccines; Virus Diseases
PubMed: 35201866
DOI: 10.1126/science.abn9652 -
Saudi Medical Journal Apr 2018Tonsillar stones are the products of calcified accumulates of cellular debris and microorganisms, in the crypts of palatine tonsils. Tonsillar stones are common findings...
Tonsillar stones are the products of calcified accumulates of cellular debris and microorganisms, in the crypts of palatine tonsils. Tonsillar stones are common findings and the known cause of bad breath (halitosis). Development of large tonsillar stones, however, is rare with only a few cases reported in the literature. We present the case of a 45-year-old man with a history of recurrent sore throat and tonsillitis for a long period, and snoring with other unremarkable ears, nose and throat findings. A large-sized tonsillar stone detected in the left tonsil measured 3.1 × 2.3 cm. The patient underwent elective stone removal and tonsillectomy.
Topics: Calculi; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Palatine Tonsil; Tonsillectomy; Tonsillitis
PubMed: 29619494
DOI: 10.15537/smj.2018.4.21832 -
BioMed Research International 2018To evaluate the value of Brodsky tonsil scale in predicting the objective tonsil volume and to identify the potential factors that might interfere with the accuracy of...
PURPOSE
To evaluate the value of Brodsky tonsil scale in predicting the objective tonsil volume and to identify the potential factors that might interfere with the accuracy of prediction.
METHODS
A total of 87 adult patients who underwent single tonsillectomy or uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) procedure including tonsillectomy in our hospital between Jan 2015 and Dec 2016 were included. The data of Brodsky tonsil scale evaluated preoperatively and objective tonsil volume evaluated postoperatively were collected for analysis.
RESULTS
Among the 87 adult patients included, 85 patients underwent bilateral tonsillectomy, while only 2 underwent unilateral procedure. Therefore, a total of 172 tonsils were included. Significant positive correlations were established between Brodsky scale and objective volume for either right (R = 0.647), left (R = 0.664), or overall tonsils (R = 0.654) (all < 0.001). However, volume overlaps could be found between 2+ and 3+ tonsils. Age [odds ratio (OR) = 4.053, = 0.003] and body mass index (BMI; OR=1.740, = 0.044) were found to be independent factors that could influence the consistency between the Brodsky scale and objective volume. As a result, a formula "Index = -1.409+1.399×age+0.554×BMI" was constructed for the evaluation of the consistency.
CONCLUSION
Tonsil grading was significantly correlated with tonsil volume; preoperative tonsil grading that reflected the real tonsil volume was regarded as the protocol for the evaluation of the tonsil size. Age and BMI were independent factors that could affect the consistency between tonsil grade and tonsil volume. A mathematical model was estimated to predict the consistency accurately.
Topics: Adult; Body Mass Index; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Organ Size; Palatine Tonsil; Prospective Studies; Tonsillectomy
PubMed: 30474041
DOI: 10.1155/2018/6434872 -
Otolaryngologia Polska = the Polish... Jun 2020<b>Introduction:</b> Tonsillectomy belongs to the most frequently performed surgical treatments; however, the necessity of its performance is questioned....
<b>Introduction:</b> Tonsillectomy belongs to the most frequently performed surgical treatments; however, the necessity of its performance is questioned. Therefore, there are many attempts to unify and define the indications for the procedure. <br><b>Aim:</b> The main objective of the current dissertation was an analysis of the clinical symptoms occurring in patients qualified for tonsillectomy, as well as a comparison of those with a histopathological image of the removed tonsils in a repeatedly carried out, unified pathomorphological examination. The secondary objective was the designation of the demographic profile, existing comorbidities, and complications in the form of postoperative bleeding in patients after tonsillectomy in own material. <br><b>Material and method:</b> A retrospective analysis of 301 procedures of palatine tonsil removal was performed, which were completed in the years 2017-2019 at the Department of Otolaryngology with Division of Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery of the Military Institute of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland. The indications were defined on the grounds of data from the anamnesis. Based on unified criteria, the removed material was divided into 2 groups: with the signs of Chronic Tonsillitis (CT) as well as Tonsillar Hyperthrophy (TH). <br><b>Results:</b> The average size of tonsils was the greatest in a group of patients under 35 years of age, and smallest in the group over 51 years of age. As patients aged, the reduction in size of the palatal tonsils was observed. In the examined group, the histopathological diagnosis in the form of HT was found in 165 patients (54.8%), while CT in 136 (45.2%). It was proven that the larger the tonsils in the clinical picture, the more often the histopathological image responded to HT. Among clinical symptoms reported by patients qualified for tonsillectomy, the following were observed: recurring tonsil inflammation in 211 (70.1%), snoring and sleep apnea in 47 (15.6%), as well as sleep apnea in 33 (11%) patients. Primary bleeding occurred in 10 patients (3.34%), and secondary in 8 patients (2.66%). The most common comorbidities were cardiovascular burdens. <br><b>Conclusions:</b> For most cases, clinical symptoms were confirmed by adequate features of removed material in histopathological examination. The most common histopathological diagnosis was tonsillar hyperthrophy.
Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Poland; Retrospective Studies; Tonsillectomy; Tonsillitis; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult
PubMed: 33028738
DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0014.1612