Our team of specialists and staff believe that informed patients are better equipped to make decisions regarding their health and well being. For your personal use, we have created an extensive patient library covering an array of educational topics. Browse through these diagnoses and treatments to learn more about topics of interest to you. Or, for a more comprehensive search of our entire Web site, enter your term(s) in the search bar provided.
As always, you can contact our office to answer any questions or concerns.
Our Library at a quick glance:
Ears
- Children and Facial Paralysis
- Child's Hearing Loss
- Cholesteatoma
- Cochlear Implants
- Dizziness and Motion Sickness
- Fall Prevention
- Ear Plastic Surgery
- Ear Tubes
- Earaches
- Ears and Altitude
- Earwax
- Quick Glossary for Good Ear Health
- Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease
- Better Ear Health
- Buying a Hearing Aid
- Child Screening
- Chronic Otitis Media
- Cochlear-Meningitis Vaccination
- Day Care and Ear, Nose, and Throat Problems
- Ear Infection and Vaccines
- Your Genes and Hearing Loss
- How the Ear Works
- Hyperacusis
- Know the Power of Sound
- Noise-Induced Hearing Loss In Children
- Pediatric Obesity
- What You Should Know About Otosclerosis
- When Your Child Has Tinnitus
- Why Do Children Have Earaches?
- Infant Hearing Loss
- Noise and Hearing Protection
- Perforated Eardrum
- Swimmer's Ear
- Tinnitus (also, heres a link to a very good tinnitus organization ATA)
- TMJ
Throat
- About Your Voice
- Common Problems That Can Affect Your Voice
- Day Care and Ear, Nose, and Throat
- Effects of Medications on Voice
- Gastroesphageal Reflux (GERD)
- How Allergies Affect your Child's Ears, Nose, and Throat
- Laryngeal (Voice Box) Cancer
- Laryngopharyngeal Reflux and Children
- Nodules, Polyps, and Cysts
- Pediatric GERD
- Pediatric Obesity and Ear, Nose, and Throat Disorders
- Special Care for Occupational and Professional Voice Users
- Tips for Healthy Voices
- Tonsils and Adenoids
- Tonsillectomy Procedures
- Tonsillitis
- Tonsils and Adenoids PostOp
- Vocal Cord Paralysis
- GERD and LPR
- Hoarseness
- How the Voice Works
- Secondhand Smoke
- Sore Throats
- Swallowing Disorders
Nose and Mouth
- Allergies and Hay Fever
- Antihistamines, Decongestants, and "Cold" Remedies
- Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)
- Facial Sports Injuries
- 20 Questions about Your Sinuses
- Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever)
- Allergic Rhinitis, Sinusitis, and Rhinosinusitis
- Antibiotics and Sinusitis
- Are We Through With Chew Yet?
- Could My Child Have Sleep Apnea?
- Day Care and Ear, Nose, and Throat Problems
- Deviated Septum
- Do I Have Sinusitis?
- How Allergies Affect your Child's Ears, Nose, and Throat
- Pediatric Obesity
- Sinus Headaches
- Sinus Pain
- Sinus Surgery
- Sinusitis: Special Considerations for Aging Patients
- Tips for Sinus Sufferers
- Tongue-tie (Ankyloglossia)
- Your Nose: The Guardian Of Your Lungs
- Fungal Sinusitis
- Mouth Sores
- Nasal Fractures
- Nose Surgery
- Nosebleeds
- Post-Nasal Drip
- Salivary Glands
- Secondhand Smoke
- Sinusitis
- Smell and Taste
- Smokeless Tobacco
- Snoring
- Stuffy Noses
- TMJ Pain
Head and Neck
- Facial Plastic Surgery
- Facial Sports Injuries
- Children and Facial Trauma
- Pediatric Head and Neck Tumors
- Head and Neck Cancer
- Thyroid Nodules
- Laryngeal (Voice Box) Cancer
- Pediatric Thyroid Cancer
- Rhabdomyosarcoma
- Smokeless Tobacco
- Are We Through With Chew Yet?
- Quiting Smokeless Tobacco
- Secondhand Smoke
- Skin Cancer
Pediatric
- Child Screening
- Children and Facial Trauma
- Could My Child Have Sleep Apnea?
- Day Care and Ear, Nose, and Throat
- How Allergies Affect your Child's Ears, Nose, and Throat
- Pediatric Food Allergies
- Pediatric Obesity and Ear, Nose, and Throat Disorders
- Pediatric Sinusitis
- Secondhand Smoke and Children
- Tonsillitis
- Tonsillectomy Procedures
- Tonsils and Adenoids PostOp
- Ear Tubes
Espanol
- Colesteatoma
- Diábolos Estudio acerca de causas y opciones terapéuticas
- Doctor? ¿Por Qué a Mi Hijo Le Duele El OÃdo?
- Doctor? ¿Qué Causa El Ruido En El OÃdo?
- El Humo del Tabaco Ambiental y los Niños
- La pérdida de la audición
- Otitis Media Crónica (Infección del OÃdo Medio) e Hipocusia
- Perfóracion Timpánica
- Qué Debe Saber Acerca de la Otoesclerosis
- Screening de Audición en Niños
- Sirvan Las Amigdalas Y Los Adenoides?
Tonsillitis refers to inflammation of the pharyngeal tonsils (glands at the back of the throat, visible through the mouth). The inflammation may involve other areas of the back of the throat, including the adenoids and the lingual tonsils (tonsil tissue at the back of the tongue). There are several variations of tonsillitis: acute, recurrent, and chronic tonsillitis, and peritonsillar abscess.
Viral or bacterial infections and immunologic factors lead to tonsillitis and its complications. Nearly all children in the United States experience at least one episode of tonsillitis. Due to improvements in medical and surgical treatments, complications associated with tonsillitis, including mortality, are rare.
Who gets tonsillitis?
Tonsillitis most often occurs in children, but rarely in those younger than two years old. Tonsillitis caused by bacteria (streptococcus species) Streptococcus species typically occurs in children aged 5 to 15 years, while viral tonsillitis is more common in younger children. A peritonsillar abscess is usually found in young adults but can occur occasionally in children. The patient's history often helps identify the type of tonsillitis present (i.e., acute, recurrent, chronic).
What causes tonsillitis?
The herpes simplex virus, Streptococcus pyogenes (GABHS), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, and the measles virus cause most cases of acute pharyngitis and acute tonsillitis. Bacteria cause 15-30 percent of pharyngotonsillitis cases; GABHS is the cause for most bacterial tonsillitis. (i.e., “strep throat”).
What are the symptoms of tonsillitis?
The type of tonsillitis determines what symptoms will occur.
- Acute tonsillitis: Patients have a fever, sore throat, foul breath, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), odynophagia (painful swallowing), and tender cervical lymph nodes. Airway obstruction due to swollen tonsils may cause mouth breathing, snoring, nocturnal breathing pauses, or sleep apnea. Lethargy and malaise are common. These symptoms usually resolve in three to four days, but may last up to two weeks despite therapy.
- Recurrent tonsillitis: This diagnosis is made when an individual has multiple episodes of acute tonsillitis in a year.
- Chronic tonsillitis: Individuals often have chronic sore throat, halitosis, tonsillitis, and persistently tender cervical nodes.
- Peritonsillar abscess: Individuals often have severe throat pain, fever, drooling, foul breath, trismus (difficulty opening the mouth), and muffled voice quality, such as the “hot potato” voice (as if talking with a hot potato in his or her mouth).
What happens during the physician visit?
Your child will undergo a general ear, nose, and throat examination as well as a review of the patient’s medical history. A physical examination of a young patient with tonsillitis may find:
- Fever and enlarged inflamed tonsils covered by pus.
- Group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus pyogenes (GABHS) can cause tonsillitis (“strep throat”) associated with the presence of palatal petechiae (tiny hemorrhagic spots, of pinpoint to pinhead size, on the soft palate). Neck nodes may be enlarged. A fine red rash over the body suggests scarlet fever. GABHS pharyngitis usually occurs in children 5-15 years old.
- Open-mouth breathing and muffled voice resulting from obstructive tonsillar enlargement. The voice change with acute tonsillitis usually is not as severe as that associated with peritonsillar abscess.
- Tender cervical lymph nodes and neck stiffness (often found in acute tonsillitis).
- Signs of dehydration (found by examination of skin and mucosa).
- The possibility of infectious mononucleosis due to EBV in an adolescent or younger child with acute tonsillitis, particularly when cervical, axillary, and/or groin nodes are tender. Severe lethargy, malaise, and low-grade fever accompany acute tonsillitis.
- A grey membrane covering tonsils that are inflamed from an EBV infection. (This membrane can be removed without bleeding.) Palatal petechiae (pinpoint spots on the soft palate) may also be seen with an EBV infection.
- Red swollen tonsils that may have small ulcers on their surfaces in individuals with herpes simplex virus (HSV) tonsillitis.
- Unilateral bulging above and to the side of one of the tonsils when peritonsillar abscess exists. A stiff jaw, difficulty opening the mouth, and pain referred to the ear may be present in varying severity.
Treatment
Tonsillitis is usually treated with a regimen of antibiotics. Fluid replacement and pain control are important. Hospitalization may be required in severe cases, particularly when there is airway obstruction. When the condition is chronic or recurrent, a surgical procedure to remove the tonsils is often recommended. Peritonsillar abscess may need more urgent treatment to drain the abscess.
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Tuesday: | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Wednesday: | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Thursday: | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Friday: | 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM |
Saturday: | Closed |
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