Results of a new study find that removing tonsils from children may not be a good thing.

Tonsils are masses of tissue at the back of the throat that trap bacteria and viruses a person may breathe in.

According to Dutch researchers, removing a child's tonsils due to them having mild or moderate throat infections is not only expensive, but also has fewer health benefits than simply watching and waiting.

In a recent study, results showed that children who did not have their tonsils removed had fewer annual doctor visits than those who had their tonsils removed.

Annual costs among the watchful waiting group were about $500 per year, compared with about $730 in the group that underwent surgery -- a 46% difference.

Furthermore, the risk of surgical complications was also present in the group of children who had their tonsils removed.

"Surgery resulted in a significant increase in costs without realizing relevant clinical benefit," Erik Buskens, an epidemiologist and colleagues at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands, wrote in the Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

"Overall, the balance between costs and effects in this population seemed unfavorable for adenotonsillectomy, with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios in excess of $423 per disease episode averted."

"With time, the child's immune system matures and the difference in adverse episodes disappears. Thus, the initial cost increment in the adenotonsillectomy group will never be counterbalanced by a continued positive health effect," the study authors note.