Metal Mouth Message Board

I realized tonight, while eating dinner, that the reason I feel so excited and hungry while making meals only to take two bites and push the food aside is because I can't taste as well as I used to.

A quick check of pubmed resulted in finding out that both the LeFort I and the BSSO are procedures known for deadening the sense of taste both on the tongue and the palate. That might have been worth a mention, doc...

I had my son blind test my palate, the tip of my tongue, and the posterior part of my tongue with six solution, concentrated and diluted versions of table salt dissolved in water, granulated sugar dissolved in water, and lemon juice. He soaked a cotton bud in each and swabbed it in six zones, right and left of my posterior palate, right and left of the back of my tongue, and right and left of the front of my tongue.

Turns out I can taste sweet pretty well, but not on my palate. I can barely taste salt, even in a strong concentration, and not at all on my palate. I could taste lemon juice, but not in the way that I used to taste lemon juice. I knew what it was, but didn't get the puckering up reaction I would have had pre-op. I didn't have an appropriate way to taste test, nor did I want to try tasting bitterness.

Please, please, please....someone tell me that they've experienced this and that it was temporary. I live for food and my sense of taste was insanely refined after years of training it to be so. My sense of smell is still top notch. Crossing my fingers that this too shall pass!

I've been thinking of posting what you just did, I'm in the exact same situation. I had double jaw surgery about 9 weeks ago and I can't taste meat, salt, etc very well at all but anything sucrose is like it always was. I can taste tomato, onion and such just fine, so perhaps try dishes with those? Enchiladas were great, Italian food, etc.

I asked my surgeon about this and he said my taste should come back to normal. I'll ask my orthodontist next as well, he's very experienced with surgical cases. If it's the same pubmed study I read then our taste should resolve to about normal levels after 6-9 months.

joecinq03 wrote:I've been thinking of posting what you just did, I'm in the exact same situation. I had double jaw surgery about 9 weeks ago and I can't taste meat, salt, etc very well at all but anything sucrose is like it always was. I can taste tomato, onion and such just fine, so perhaps try dishes with those? Enchiladas were great, Italian food, etc.

I asked my surgeon about this and he said my taste should come back to normal. I'll ask my orthodontist next as well, he's very experienced with surgical cases. If it's the same pubmed study I read then our taste should resolve to about normal levels after 6-9 months.

I'm so glad your doc thinks it's temporary! Did you find the wording to be awkward in that study write-up? The end, where they discussed the 6-9 month bit, I felt it got muddy. It was clear that they meant the problem resolved for most SSO patients at the 6-9 month mark, but it wasn't so clear to me what they were saying for the outcomes in LeFort I cases. I might have just been distracted though, so I'll cross my fingers that by the 9 month mark all will be well!

It was actually tomato sauce that prompted my revelation tonight. I spent the better part of an hour hand breading chicken for chicken parm, simmering a homemade sauce that I KNOW is flavor-packed, and feeling my stomach growl from how hungry I was from smelling all the yummy smells. My kids and husband got a jump on eating since I'm still cutting my food into small bits. They were literally groaning from how good it was...when I took a bite I was like, "Meh". I thought they might have been mocking me, actually. Nope, it was super delicious, but my taster is busted

I noticed my sense of taste was altered the first week after surgery. The first blended meal I had (some Campbell's alphabet vegetable soup) tasted like peanut butter. I'm sure it goes without saying that there wasn't any peanut butter in it. My next meal was a chocolate protein shake blended with some coconut Greek yogurt. All I could taste was coconut and for a few days after that, all of my chocolate protein shakes tasted like coconut. Things did get better though and I feel like my sense of taste has actually improved since surgery, but I tend to be on the picky side when it comes to food.

Keep in mind that the surgery beats the heck out of your sinuses and nasal passages and likely has similar effects on taste as a cold or sinus infection.

http://www.joms.org/article/S0278-2391( ... 6/abstract

"Conclusion: In the patients studied, taste function on the palate was significantly decreased for 6 to 9 months after LFI, likely a result of impairment of function of the greater superficial petrosal branch of the facial nerve. Lingual taste function, reduced at 1 to 2 months after SSO, likely due to impaired chorda tympani nerve function, improved by 6 to 9 months. Palatal and lingual neurosensory testing can be used to identify reversible sequelae of oral maxillofacial surgery."