Third molar extraction has positive long-term effects on objectively-measured taste function
Poster presentation
Third molar (“wisdom tooth”) extraction (TME) can produce, in some persons, taste defects postoperatively via damage to the chorda tympani/lingual nerve. Although the taste deficits reportedly resolve within a year, the long-term effects of TME remain unknown.
Objective: To compare, retrospectively, the whole-mouth taste function of 891 subjects who had received TMEs, on average, more than 2 decades earlier to that of 364 individuals who had not undergone TME. All had been extensively tested for smell and taste function at the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center over the last 20 years.
Experimental Methods: A 40-stimulus whole-mouth liquid identification test incorporating 2 presentations each of 5 different concentrations of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, and caffeine was administered to each subject. The mean test scores of the TME and control subjects were compared using analysis of covariance (age = covariate). Odds ratios were computed from binary logistic regression modeling controlling for the effects of sex and age.
Results: Those with histories of TME exhibited better test scores for all 4 taste qualities than non-operated controls (all ps < 0.0001; ORs (95% CI) – Sucrose: 1.67 (1.30, 2.16); citric acid: 1.81 (1.40, 2.34); sodium chloride: 1.49 (1.15,1.93); caffeine: 1.46 (1.13, 1.88). No effect of the time since the TME was evident. In both groups, women outperformed men and taste performance declined with age.
Conclusions: Persons who have undergone TME exhibit, on average, better taste function decades after the TME than persons who have not undergone TME. The physiological basis for this improvement is unknown, although it could reflect sensitization of CN VII nerve afferents or the partial release of the tonic inhibition that CN VII exerts on CN IX via central nervous system processes.
Funding: Based, in part, on a clinical database that was initiated by NIDCD PO1 DC 00161.
Objective: To compare, retrospectively, the whole-mouth taste function of 891 subjects who had received TMEs, on average, more than 2 decades earlier to that of 364 individuals who had not undergone TME. All had been extensively tested for smell and taste function at the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center over the last 20 years.
Experimental Methods: A 40-stimulus whole-mouth liquid identification test incorporating 2 presentations each of 5 different concentrations of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, and caffeine was administered to each subject. The mean test scores of the TME and control subjects were compared using analysis of covariance (age = covariate). Odds ratios were computed from binary logistic regression modeling controlling for the effects of sex and age.
Results: Those with histories of TME exhibited better test scores for all 4 taste qualities than non-operated controls (all ps < 0.0001; ORs (95% CI) – Sucrose: 1.67 (1.30, 2.16); citric acid: 1.81 (1.40, 2.34); sodium chloride: 1.49 (1.15,1.93); caffeine: 1.46 (1.13, 1.88). No effect of the time since the TME was evident. In both groups, women outperformed men and taste performance declined with age.
Conclusions: Persons who have undergone TME exhibit, on average, better taste function decades after the TME than persons who have not undergone TME. The physiological basis for this improvement is unknown, although it could reflect sensitization of CN VII nerve afferents or the partial release of the tonic inhibition that CN VII exerts on CN IX via central nervous system processes.
Funding: Based, in part, on a clinical database that was initiated by NIDCD PO1 DC 00161.