Our senses of taste and smell give us great pleasure: taste lets us enjoy food and drink, and smell lets us enjoy scents such as roses or coffee. They also protect us, warning us when food has gone bad or there is a gas leak, and they make us want to eat, so we get the nutrition we need.
What goes wrong
- Taste disorders: people may taste things that aren't there, be unable to tell tastes apart, or be unable to taste at all.
- Smell disorders: people may lose their sense of smell, or things may smell different — a smell they once enjoyed may now seem bad.
Causes
Many illnesses and injuries can cause these disorders, including colds and head injuries, and some drugs affect taste and smell. Most people also lose some of both senses as they get older.
Treatment
Treatment depends on the problem and its cause.
Sources
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, "Taste and Smell Disorders," drawing on the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH). https://medlineplus.gov/tasteandsmelldisorders.html
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from medlineplus.gov
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