Clinical evaluation of the sense of taste.

Our strategy in taste testing is based on an analysis of the ways in which the loss of taste is known to occur. Patients are tested with preparations that represent the four basic tastes because each taste has a separate mechanism that permits independent losses to occur. A range of concentrations are used in each test battery, since taste abnormalities can occur in only part of the concentration group. Various loci for taste are also tested because taste abnormalities can be limited to specific loci.