Taste & Smell Disorders

Smell and taste disorders can cause significant detriment to a patient’s quality of life. Patients may have different alterations of how their smell and taste are affected and these disorders may come from a variety of different sources.

Symptoms of a smell disorder can include:

• Decreased smell (microsmia)
• A foul sense only you can smell (parosmia/phantosmia)
• Complete loss of smell (anosmia)

Smell disorders may be caused by

• Inflammation of the nose and paranasal sinuses due to:
  • Chronic sinus inflammation
  • Nasal polyps
  • Allergies
• Previous upper respiratory infection that may or may not be related to COVID-19
• Trauma to the head and/or face
• Certain neurological conditions
• Exposure to certain chemicals, metals, or toxins

Symptoms of a taste disorder can include

• Decreased overall sense of taste (dysgeusia)
• Complete loss of taste (ageusia)
• Altered sense of taste that is inappropriately sweet, sour, salty, bitter, or metallic (dysgeusia)
• Unpleasant taste that occurs outside of eating (phantogeusia)

Taste disorders may be caused by

• Infection or inflammation in the throat or mouth
• Vitamin or mineral deficiency
• Certain neurological, endocrine, or metabolic conditions
• Exposure to certain chemicals, metals, or toxins