Khan Asim Mustafa, Narayanan Veena Sathya, Puttabuddi Jaishankar Homberhalli, Chengappa Rachita, Ambaldhage Vijaya Kumara, Naik Purnachandrarao, Raheel Syed Ahmed
Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Dammam , Saudi Arabia .
Professor, Department of Oral Medicine & Radiology, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences , Coorg, Karnataka, India .
J Clin Diagn Res. 2016 May;10(5):ZC101-5. doi: 10.7860/JCDR/2016/14478.7835. Epub 2016 May 1.
Smoking in long term is not only responsible for cancerous changes but is also one of the reasons of altered taste sensation in smokers. These taste changes are hypothesized to be due to reduction in density of fungiform papillae on the dorsum of the tongue.
The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between fungiform papillae count, blood Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW) and electrogustometric thresholds in smokers and non-smokers.
Fungiform papillae count was assessed using digital photography and imaging software while electrogustometric thresholds were assessed using modified Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation (TENS) machine in 30 smokers and 30 non-smokers. The subjects also underwent RDW evaluation. The data collected was analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient.
Fungiform papillae counts in smokers were less than those of non-smokers and an inverse relationship was detected between smoking and fungiform papillae count. Electrogustometric thresholds were more in smokers than non-smokers and showed direct relationship with smoking. RDW was significantly more in smokers compared to non-smokers. An inverse relationship was observed between fungiform papillae count and RDW.
Our results suggest that smokers have a high taste threshold because of decrease in the number of fungiform papillae on the tongue and RDW values do show an inverse relationship with fungiform papillae density which depicts subclinical nutritional deficiency bringing atrophic changes in tongue.
长期吸烟不仅会导致癌变，也是吸烟者味觉改变的原因之一。据推测，这些味觉变化是由于舌背菌状乳头密度降低所致。
本研究旨在评估吸烟者和非吸烟者的菌状乳头计数、血液红细胞分布宽度（RDW）与电味觉阈值之间的关系。
使用数码摄影和成像软件评估菌状乳头计数，同时使用改良的经皮电神经刺激（TENS）仪评估30名吸烟者和30名非吸烟者的电味觉阈值。受试者还接受了RDW评估。收集的数据采用Pearson相关系数进行分析。
吸烟者的菌状乳头计数低于非吸烟者，吸烟与菌状乳头计数呈负相关。吸烟者的电味觉阈值高于非吸烟者，且与吸烟呈正相关。吸烟者的RDW显著高于非吸烟者。菌状乳头计数与RDW呈负相关。
我们的结果表明，吸烟者由于舌上菌状乳头数量减少而具有较高的味觉阈值，并且RDW值确实与菌状乳头密度呈负相关，这表明亚临床营养缺乏导致舌部出现萎缩性变化。
