Smell and Taste Disorders

General Information About Taste and Smell

It is estimated that approximately 2 million adult Americans have a taste and/or smell disorder. These include anosmia (complete smell loss), hyposmia (partial smell loss), ageusia (complete taste loss), hypogeusia (partial taste loss), parosmia (smell distortion or phantom smell), and dysgeusia (persistent abnormal taste). There are actually three "chemosensory" systems in the nose and mouth. The first, olfaction, is the ability to detect and identify odors. The second is gustation or taste. Taste function is limited to detection and identification of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter substances in the mouth. The third sense, the "common chemical sense", is the ability to detect the irritating properties of substances in the mouth and odors in the nose. Through the common chemical sense, we perceive the burn of chili pepper and the tingle of ammonia.

Information about taste is picked up by numerous taste buds distributed throughout the oral cavity. Smell information is processed by specialized nervous tissue at the very top of the nasal cavities. The common chemical sense is transmitted through many tiny nerve endings in the linings of the nose and mouth. Information from these three senses is transmitted via a number of separate paths to the brain.

The terms "flavor" and "taste" are often confused. Flavor is determined by the aroma (smell), taste (sweet, sour, salty or bitter quality), texture, temperature and spiciness (or irritation) of food and beverages. All of these sensory experiences together form "flavor". Frequently, when individuals say they cannot taste, they are really telling us that they cannot appreciate the flavor of food. As the aroma of food contributes to about 3/4 of its flavor, these individuals usually have suffered a loss of smell ability only.

Once the type of chemosensory problem is determined, preferably through testing, the cause needs to be identified. Although taste and smell abnormalities are linked to many medical and dental conditions, most are caused by only a handful of disorders.

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