Effect of Oral Moisture on Taste Sensation

Taste disorders can be caused by various factors, including zinc deficiency, adverse drug reactions, cold and xerostomia, and the number of patients seeking medical assistance for such disorders is increasing. However, because taste disorders are often difficult to treat, some medical institutions will not treat these complaints.In the Department of Otolaryngology at Osaka Dental University Hospital, a clinic was opened on September 1, 2004, to treat patients with taste disorders.We treated 1 outpatient who lost one side of parotid gland due to malignancy, then lost the function of the remaining salivary gland due to Sjogren's syndrome.Subjects comprised 17 patients complaining of taste disorders with xerostomia without subjective symptoms of other otolaryngological diseases.In the present study, 4 patients were prescribed zinc by another physician, but only 2 patients actually displayed zinc deficiency. Zinc administration did not improve symptoms in any of the patients.According to the diagnostic criteria for xerostomia in our department, 17 patients had xerostomia, and 4 of these 17 patients were diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome. These patients were instructed to gargle with cevimeline hydrochloride, and taste sensation improved in 12 patients.We have examined 17 patients to data and consider this number insufficient to draw definitive conclusions but the data we have currently suggests to the following conclusions:1. Latent Sjogren's syndrome should be suspected in patients presenting with taste disorder with xerostomia.2. In taste disorder patients with xerostomia, gargling with cevimeline hydrochloride appears very useful.3. One patient had lost a side of salivary gland, and Sjogren's syndrome caused loss of function of the remaining salivary gland. In this patient, favorable results were also obtained by gargling with cevimeline hydrochloride.