Your tonsils are like soldiers. They guard the opening into your throat and help to fight dangerous bacteria that enters into your mouth by air and food.
Tonsils are on both sides of your throat, at the back of your mouth, and are easy to see.
When you’re very young, your tonsils will grow, because you need extra help fighting infection but they shrink by the time you go to school, disappearing almost completely by the time you reach adulthood.
In some young adults and teens, the tonsils become infected many times with bacteria and viruses, which make them swell and become painful. Removing the tonsils stops this from happening.
Did you know?
As you get older your tonsils begin to shrink. They are then probably no longer as useful. This is in protecting against the germs that cause disease.
