We tested the validity of electrogustometry (EGM) and the filter-paper disc (FPD) method of assessing taste and attempted to simplify them for general clinical application.
EGM was found to be an effective method of comparatively precise gustatory nerve examination which is simple enough for clinical application. We concluded that tests of the greater superficial petrosal nerve (soft palate region) can usually be omitted, and that unilateral examination is sufficient when no difference between. the right and left sides is detected by EGM. With the FPD method, examination with two tastes (“sweet” plus “salty” or“bitter”) was founed to be sufficient.
A study of the effectiveness of oral zinc in treating. taste disorders showed that in 285 out of 420 patients (66.7%) the sense of taste was restored. Even among patients aged 70 or older, a high percentage showed improvement when treatment was started whithin 6 months after the onset of symptoms. The effectiveness of zinc was confirmed by a statistically significant difference in the results of double blind tests with zinc gluconate and a plasebo, particularly in patients with idiopathic and zinc-deficient loss of taste.
