taste

Change in Taste After Wisdom Teeth Surgery

by

An interesting article titled “Short-Term Evaluation of Gustatory Changes After Surgical Removal of Mandibular Third Molar—A Prospective Randomized Control Trial,” appears in the 2018 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (vol. 76, pp. 258-266). The article sought to explore if changes in taste occur after removing wisdom teeth. In the article the authors discuss how damage to the lingual nerve and the loss of the ability to sense taste are complications that can occur after wisdom teeth surgery. The authors devised a study using 60 patients who had impacted wisdom teeth surgically removed. They selected 15 patients in each category of mesioangular, distoangular, horizontal, and vertical impacted wisdom teeth. The patients were evaluated with regards to taste testing before surgery and again 10 days after surgery. In the study each patient was given a sweet, salty, sour, … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Removal Can Improve Long Term Taste

by

Interesting research appears in the article “Positive Long-Term Effects of Third Molar Extraction on Taste Function,” by Dane Kim and Richard L. Doty appears in Chemical Senses, v.ol 46, pp. 1-5, 2021. The article discusses how patients in the study had improved tasting ability decades after having wisdom teeth removed. This is counter to prior studies that have adverse effects on taste after having wisdom teeth extracted which was believed to dissipate over time. In the article the researchers evaluated data from 1,255 patients who had undergone a chemosensory evaluation at the University of Pennslyvania’s Smell and Taste Center over the course of 20 years. From this group of patients, 891 patients had received wisdom teeth (third molar) extractions and 364 had not. All participants were asked to complete a sip-and-spit whole-mouth taste test with five different concentrations of sucrose, … Read more