The expression “leaving a bad taste in the mouth” is almost always used as a figure of speech to illustrate the aftermath of something unpleasant, but the expression can become a reality for the unlucky few who develop taste disorders. Taste disorders can badly affect quality of life as well as the health of the person who can suffer a loss of appetite and weight loss.
Most common taste disorders
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- Phantom taste perception, when a lingering and often unpleasant taste in the mouth persists although there is nothing in the mouth
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- Hypogeusia is a reduced ability to taste the five basic taste sensations of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami
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- Ageusia is when no taste can be detected
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- Dysgeusia refers to a condition when an unpleasant taste perception that is salty, foul, rancid or metallic is present in the mouth
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- Other taste disorders can occur when the taste-smell system misreads or distorts taste, smell or flavour.
The actual physical loss of the ability to taste is extremely rare.
Link between taste and smell
The senses of smell and taste are very closely related and often what someone perceives as a loss in taste is actually a loss in smell or can be linked to a loss in smell.
Taste and smell are part of the body’s chemical sensing system, also called chemo sensation. Substances stimulate special nerve cells in the nose, mouth and throat that transmit messages to the brain where the smell and taste are identified.
The five taste sensations of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami as well as the texture and temperature of the substance combine with odour inside the mouth to produce the perception of flavour, allowing us to identify or know what we eat.
Sources
www.entnet.org
www.masseyeandear.org
www.medicinenet.com
www.tastesmell.com