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Chapter 030. Disorders of Smell,
Taste, and Hearing
(Part 6)
Approach to the Patient: Disorders of the Sense of Taste
Patients who complain of loss of taste should be evaluated for both
gustatory and olfactory function. Clinical assessment of taste is not as well
developed or standardized as that of smell. The first step is to perform
suprathreshold whole-mouth taste testing for quality, intensity, and pleasantness
perception of four taste qualities: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Most commonly
used reagents for taste testing are sucrose, citric acid or hydrochloric acid, caffeine
or quinine (sulfate or hydrochloride), and sodium chloride. The taste stimuli
should be freshly prepared and have similar viscosity. For quantification, detection
thresholds are obtained by applying graduated dilutions to the tongue quadrants or
by whole-mouth sips. Electric taste testing (electrogustometry) is used clinically to
identify taste deficits in specific quadrants of the tongue. Regional gustatory
testing may also be performed to assess for the possibility of loss localized to one
or several receptor fields as a result of a peripheral or central lesion. The history of
the disease and localization studies provide important clues to the causes of the
taste disturbance. For example, absence of taste on the anterior two-thirds of the
tongue associated with a facial paralysis indicates that the lesion is proximal to the
juncture of the chorda tympani branch with the facial nerve in the mastoid.
Disorders of the Sense of Taste: Treatment
Treatment of gustatory disorders is limited. No effective therapies exist for
the sensorineural disorders of taste. Altered taste due to surgical stretch injury of
the chorda tympani nerve usually improves within 3–4 months, while dysfunction
is usually permanent with transection of the nerve. Taste dysfunction following
trauma may resolve spontaneously without intervention and is more likely to do so
than posttraumatic smell dysfunction. Idiopathic alterations of taste sensitivity
usually remain stable or worsen; zinc and vitamin therapy are of unproven value.