Taste Tests as Diagnostic Tools

Abstract

Receptors of the tongue record four “tastes”—salt, sweet, sour and bitter. Dentures, palate abnormalities, lichen planus or infiltrating tumors of the tongue, diseases that affect the innervation of the tongue, injuries to the mouth, and familial dysautonomia can alter thresholds at which taste is perceived. Also, patients taking D-penicillamine or steroids and patients with endocrine diseases may have changes in taste.