Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsFunctionAnatomyTaste PerceptionTaste DisordersDiagnosis and Treatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Function
Anatomy
Taste Perception
Taste Disorders
Diagnosis and Treatment
Taste buds on your tongue are tiny organs that help detect the five elements of taste perception: saltiness, sourness, bitterness, sweetness, and savoriness (also known asumami).
The adult tongue has between 2,000 and 4,000 taste buds, each of which is made up of 50 to 150 taste receptor cells (known as gustatory cells). These cells transmit information that thebraininterprets as different flavors or tastes.
There are many conditions that can alter how you normally experience flavors, includingtaste disorderslike burning mouth syndrome,dysgeusia, and phantom taste perception.
This article explains the function and anatomy of taste buds. It also describes conditions that affect taste and how taste disorders are diagnosed and treated.
Adene Sanchez / E+ / Getty Images
What Do Taste Buds Do?
The ability to perceive tastes involves a complex system of organs that work together to help detect and differentiate flavors. Taste buds, while key to this process, are not the only organs involved.
The process of taste perception can be broadly described as follows:
How to Get Taste Back After COVID-19
Anatomy and Location of Taste Buds
Taste buds on your tongue are so-named because they consist of a dense layer of bud-like organs—calledpapillae—on the dorsal (upper) surface of the tongue.
When you are born, you actually have more taste buds than you will in later life. Most children have around 10,000 taste buds at birth, the number of which will steadily decrease with age along with the size of the buds.By older age, the number may fall anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000.
There are different types of taste buds with different functions, including:
Each papilla is populated with gustatory cells and other tissues that function as taste receptors. There are three types of gustatory cells, referred to as type 1, type 2, and type 3 taste receptors.
Taste buds form in utero during fetal development and remain with you for life. The cells are shed and re-form quite rapidly, usually within 10 to 12 days, although the process will slow as you start to age. This can lead to a progressive loss of taste buds as well as a loss of taste perception.
Despite myths that different parts of the tongue experience different flavors, all taste buds (with the exception of filiform papillae) are able to perceive sweetness, savoriness, bitterness, sourness, and saltiness.
They do so based on the different molecules, chemicals, or ions released in masticated food and the specific types of receptors they stimulate:
While most people notice a distinction between these categories of tastes, not everyone tastes things the same way. This is due in part to the number of papillae on the tongue.
Conditions That Affect the Taste Buds
Taste disorders affect more than 200,000 people in the United. each year. Researchers believe that as many as 15% of adults may have problems with taste and/or smell.
Dysgeusia and Phantogeusia
Many medications can cause dysgeusia as well as pregnancy, dry mouth, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, migraines, diabetes, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease. Dysgeusia is not dangerous or life-threatening but can impact your quality of life.
When dysgeusia occurs even when there is nothing in your mouth, it is often referred to as “phantom taste perception” orphantogeusia.
Hypogeusia and Ageusia
Hypogeusiaoccurs when you experience a loss of taste, whileageusiarefers to the total loss of taste. Both are commonly seen with severe cases of COVID-19but can also occur with heavy smoking, hypothyroidism, anemia, Crohn’s disease, diabetes,Sjögren’s disease, severe tongue burns, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease.
Many drugs, including chemotherapy drugs, antidepressants, bronchodilators, thyroid drugs, and diuretics can cause impaired taste perception.
Burning Mouth Syndrome
Burning mouth syndrome occurs in the absence of any injury to the tongue. The symptoms are often worse in the afternoon and evening and most commonly felt on the front of the tongue, roof of the mouth, or inside the lower lip.
Diagnosing and Treating Taste Bud Disorders
Along with a physical exam and a review of your medical history (including an assessment of any medications you take), your healthcare provider will perform tests to evaluate your smell and taste perception.
This may involve giving you drinks (like salt or glucose solutions) in gradually increasing concentrations to determine at which point you can detect tastes. You may also be given flavored solutions to compare or provided with “scratch-and-sniff” tests to determine if your sense of smell is impaired.
Other treatment options include:
At-home treatment includes rinsing with salt water, sucking on ice to reduce swelling, eating a bland diet, and avoiding spicy or hot foods that irritate your tongue.
Summary
Taste buds are tiny bud-like protrusions on the tongue that are able to perceive sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, sourness, and savoriness. When combined with information from olfactory receptors in your nose, the brain can interpret these taste characteristics as flavors.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.In brief: how does our sense of taste work?National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.Taste disorders.Bachmanov AA, Bosak NP, Lin C, et al.Genetics of taste receptors.Curr Pharm Des.2014;20(16):2669–2683. doi:10.2174/13816128113199990566National Library of Medicine.Phantogeusia.Brann D, Tsukahara T, Weinreb C et al.Non-neuronal expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the olfactory system suggests mechanisms underlying COVID-19-associated anosmia.Sci Adv. 2020;6(31):eabc5801. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc5801Aravindhan R, Vidyalakshmi S, Kumar MS, Satheeesh C, Balusubamanium M, Prasad VS.Burning mouth syndrome: a review on its diagnostic and therapeutic approach.J Pharm Bioallied Sci.2014 Jul;6(Suppl 1):S21–S25. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.137255
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.In brief: how does our sense of taste work?National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.Taste disorders.Bachmanov AA, Bosak NP, Lin C, et al.Genetics of taste receptors.Curr Pharm Des.2014;20(16):2669–2683. doi:10.2174/13816128113199990566National Library of Medicine.Phantogeusia.Brann D, Tsukahara T, Weinreb C et al.Non-neuronal expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the olfactory system suggests mechanisms underlying COVID-19-associated anosmia.Sci Adv. 2020;6(31):eabc5801. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc5801Aravindhan R, Vidyalakshmi S, Kumar MS, Satheeesh C, Balusubamanium M, Prasad VS.Burning mouth syndrome: a review on its diagnostic and therapeutic approach.J Pharm Bioallied Sci.2014 Jul;6(Suppl 1):S21–S25. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.137255
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.In brief: how does our sense of taste work?National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.Taste disorders.Bachmanov AA, Bosak NP, Lin C, et al.Genetics of taste receptors.Curr Pharm Des.2014;20(16):2669–2683. doi:10.2174/13816128113199990566National Library of Medicine.Phantogeusia.Brann D, Tsukahara T, Weinreb C et al.Non-neuronal expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the olfactory system suggests mechanisms underlying COVID-19-associated anosmia.Sci Adv. 2020;6(31):eabc5801. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc5801Aravindhan R, Vidyalakshmi S, Kumar MS, Satheeesh C, Balusubamanium M, Prasad VS.Burning mouth syndrome: a review on its diagnostic and therapeutic approach.J Pharm Bioallied Sci.2014 Jul;6(Suppl 1):S21–S25. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.137255
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.In brief: how does our sense of taste work?
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.Taste disorders.
Bachmanov AA, Bosak NP, Lin C, et al.Genetics of taste receptors.Curr Pharm Des.2014;20(16):2669–2683. doi:10.2174/13816128113199990566
National Library of Medicine.Phantogeusia.
Brann D, Tsukahara T, Weinreb C et al.Non-neuronal expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the olfactory system suggests mechanisms underlying COVID-19-associated anosmia.Sci Adv. 2020;6(31):eabc5801. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc5801
Aravindhan R, Vidyalakshmi S, Kumar MS, Satheeesh C, Balusubamanium M, Prasad VS.Burning mouth syndrome: a review on its diagnostic and therapeutic approach.J Pharm Bioallied Sci.2014 Jul;6(Suppl 1):S21–S25. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.137255
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