Department of Oral Health Promotion, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
BMC Oral Health. 2014 Apr 11;14:36. doi: 10.1186/1472-6831-14-36.
There is some research on taste disorder/hyposensitivity in special groups such as the elderly or patients presenting with specific taste problems, however few studies have been conducted among young populations. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of taste hyposensitivity and to investigate the relationship between taste hyposensitivity and oral health status in Japanese schoolchildren.
Subjects were 237 primary and 112 junior high school students in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. In total, 349 (boys: 181, girls: 168) students aged 6-15 years participated in the study. Oral examinations and whole-mouth taste tests using four tastes (sweet, salt, sour and bitter) solutions were conducted on the subjects. A subject who could not recognize the taste of the solution was defined as demonstrating hyposensitivity.
Hyposensitivity was observed in 6.3% of all subjects for sweet-taste, 14.3% for salt-taste, 20.9% for sour-taste and 6.0% for bitter-taste. The prevalence of sweet, sour and bitter-taste hyposensitivity decreased as the subjects' grade advanced. In contrast, the prevalence of salt-taste hyposensitivity increased in 7th-9th grade subjects. Furthermore, the prevalence of bitter-taste hyposensitivity was significantly higher in males than females among 1st-3rd graders.Taste hyposensitivity had little association with oral health status, such as decayed teeth, filled teeth, dental plaque, gingival status and tongue coating.
In this study, taste hyposensitivity was observed in 6.0%-20.9% of the students. There was little association between taste hyposensitivity and oral health status. The current study implies that the factors affecting the taste hyposensitivity in children may different from those in the elderly. Therefore it is necessary to further investigate the causes of taste hyposensitivity among younger generation.
有一些关于味觉障碍/敏感性降低的研究是在特殊人群中进行的，例如老年人或出现特定味觉问题的患者，但很少有研究在年轻人群中进行。本研究的目的是评估味觉敏感性降低的发生率，并调查日本学龄儿童味觉敏感性降低与口腔健康状况之间的关系。
研究对象为日本埼玉县的 237 名小学生和 112 名初中生。共有 349 名（男生 181 名，女生 168 名）年龄在 6-15 岁的学生参与了这项研究。对受试者进行口腔检查和全口味觉测试，使用四种味觉（甜、咸、酸和苦）溶液。无法识别溶液味道的受试者被定义为味觉敏感性降低。
所有受试者中，甜味敏感性降低的发生率为 6.3%，咸味敏感性降低的发生率为 14.3%，酸味敏感性降低的发生率为 20.9%，苦味敏感性降低的发生率为 6.0%。随着年级的升高，甜、酸和苦味敏感性降低的发生率降低。相比之下，7-9 年级学生咸味敏感性降低的发生率增加。此外，在 1-3 年级的男生中，苦味敏感性降低的发生率显著高于女生。味觉敏感性降低与口腔健康状况如龋齿、补牙、牙菌斑、牙龈状况和舌苔几乎没有关联。
在这项研究中，6.0%-20.9%的学生存在味觉敏感性降低。味觉敏感性降低与口腔健康状况之间几乎没有关联。本研究表明，影响儿童味觉敏感性降低的因素可能与老年人不同。因此，有必要进一步研究年轻一代味觉敏感性降低的原因。
