Excerpt from Disorders of Taste and Smell

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Introduction

Disorders of taste and smell generally have been difficult to diagnose and treat, often because of a lack of knowledge and understanding of these senses and their disease states. An alteration in taste or smell may be a secondary process in various disease states, or it may be the primary complaint.

A 1994 survey revealed that 2.7 million American adults have an olfactory problem, and 1.1 million report a gustatory problem. An earlier study found that 66% of people are aware of a period in their life in which they had decreased smell acuity. Although often discounted and overlooked in the basic examination, deficiencies in taste and smell can cause anxiety, depression, and even nutritional deficiencies due to decreased enjoyment of food.

Loss of smell and/or taste may be life threatening, impairing detection of smoke in a fire or ability to identify spoiled food. Because approximately 80% of taste disorders are truly smell disorders, much of this article focuses on smell function and its lack, with additional discussion of taste and its disorders.

Terminology

The disorders of smell are classified as "-osmias" and those of taste as "-geusias."

• Anosmia - Inability to detect odors
• Hyposmia - Decreased ability to detect odors
• Dysosmia - Distorted identification of smell
  • Parosmia - Altered perception of smell in the presence of an odor, usually unpleasant
  • Phantosmia – Perception of smell without an odor present
  • Agnosia - Inability to classify or contrast odors, although able to detect odors
• Ageusia - Inability to taste
• Hypogeusia - Decreased ability to taste
• Dysgeusia – Distorted ability to taste

Smell and taste disorders can be total (all odors or tastes), partial (affecting several odors or tastes), or specific (only one or a select few odors or tastes).

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