Repair of the lingual nerve after iatrogenic injury: a follow-up study of return of sensation and taste.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the return of sensation and taste after surgical repair of the lingual nerve in patients who had experienced lingual nerve sectioning.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Average follow-up was 3.7 years with a range of 1.1 to 4.6 yrs. The patients' assessment of tongue sensation and taste was registered. Clinical testing for sensibility included light touch, prick, sharp/dull discrimination, heat (45 degrees C), cold (0 degree C), anterior/posterior localization of touch, perception of direction of touch movement, and two-point discrimination. The sense of taste was tested with sweet (saccharose 5%), sour (citric acid 5%), salt (saline 5%), and bitter (chinin-hydrochloride 0.5%).

RESULTS

Three patients rated their tongue sensation on the affected side as normal, another three scored subnormal, and one felt no sensibility. Likewise, four patients thought that their sense of taste was normal, two were undecided, and one felt no sense of taste on the affected side. The ability to differentiate the quality of taste on the operated side of the tongue was validated in four of 24 tests. Conversely, on the healthy side of the tongue, two of 24 tests proved negative for taste perception.

CONCLUSION

There was a notable difference in the patients' assessment of normality of tongue sensation versus the result of neurological testing. Likewise, there was a remarkable difference between the patients' subjective impression of gustatory capability and their ability to diagnose the quality of taste on testing.