Adenoids are lymph tissue located in the roof of the mouth behind the soft palate where the nose connects to the throat. They help filter air through your nose and produce antibodies, or white blood cells, that help fight infection.

“During adolescence, adenoids typically shrink, and they may disappear by adulthood,” explains Steven L. Goudy, MD, Medical Director of Otolaryngology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Also known as ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors, pediatric otolaryngologists are specially trained in treating children with ENT conditions like sleep apnea, ear infections and strep throat. 

If your child is experiencing any of the following symptoms, your doctor may recommend an adenoidectomy:

• Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, or blocked breathing during sleep
• Mouth breathing, typically with noticeable mouth odor and the feeling of a plugged nose, which is usually a sign of enlarged adenoids

“Parents typically notice one or many of these symptoms pretty easily while checking on kids at night or when they go to wake them up in the morning or after a nap,” adds Dr. Goudy.

An adenoidectomy is usually done as an outpatient procedure, which means your child will be able to go home the same day as surgery. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, so your child won’t be aware of the surgery or experience pain during it. And because a child’s anesthesia needs are different, the pediatric anesthesiologists at Children’s are specially trained and experienced to tailor anesthesia and pain management for children and teens whose bodies are still growing. Our team creates a specialized anesthesia plan for each child based on his weight, height and type of surgery.

After surgery, your child may temporarily experience the following symptoms:

• Discomfort in the back of the nose
• Stuffy nose
• Upset stomach from being under anesthesia
• Low-grade fever (up to 101.5°F or 38.6°C is common the first five days after surgery)
• Sore throat
• Ear or neck pain that stems from where the adenoids were
• Very bad breath that will improve as wounds heal (you can brush your child’s teeth, but it will not help the bad breath)
• Voice changes that usually go away in two or three weeks (your child’s voice may sound higher pitched, muffled or nasally)
• Small specks of blood coming from the nose or in the saliva (or spit)
• While some small specks of blood can be normal, bleeding can be very serious. Any amount of bright red blood, large clots or vomiting of blood is not normal. Call your child’s surgeon if any bleeding occurs, and the doctor will let you know what to do.

At Children’s, adenoidectomies are one of the most common procedures performed by our ENTs. We perform thousands each year on kids from birth to age 18, so our team brings its pediatric expertise and years of experience to every procedure.