Prevalence of Taste Changes among Tobacco Users in Patients Visiting Dental Hospital – A Comparative Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Impaired taste perception has impact on quality of life; Tobacco being an important contributing factor. Aim: To understand the impact of using tobacco on gustation among patients with habit of tobacco. Method: A total of 60 subjects enrolled divided into 3 groups (group 1): Habit of using tobacco without lesions; Group II: Patients with habit of using tobacco with tobacco associated lesions like leukoplakia, OSMF, oral cancer, tobacco pouch keratosis; Group III: Healthy individuals. Taste identification time using four aqueous solutions of basic tastes – sweet, salty, sour, and bitter – was recorded (in seconds) and compared among three groups. The data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and analysis of variance using SPSS 20 version software. Results: Results revealed 40% of patients with tobacco habits had significant alteration in taste with sour taste identified as salt in tobacco users. Sweet taste identification took longer time followed by salt, bitter and sour in Group 2 patients with statistical highly significant difference (P=.001) between Group 1 and Group 2 when compared to control group (Group 3) for all the taste. Conclusion: Hence there exists a definite alteration of taste with greater time taken in identifying a particular taste in tobacco users.