1995 Volume 1995 Issue Supplement78 Pages 75-78
This is a case report of a 14-year-old female who developed gustatory disorder due to an orthodontic wire. Because the wire deviated from the regular fixed position and pierced the right trigonum retromolar, the patient complained of traction pain on the right lower jaw, numbness on the right front half of the tongue, and hypogeusia except for sweet taste. Possible causes of these symptoms were: (1) the wire caused dir e ct mechanical compression of the nerve, or (2) edema developed in the nerve tissues around the wire inducing a circulation disorder.
Although the mechanism which sustained the patient's sweet taste recognition at a normal level was not fully understood, this patient is an interesting case from the view of the transfer mechanism of gustatory sensation.
