Assessment and Evaluation of Gustatory Functions in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type II: A study

INTRODUCTION: The assessment of taste is critically important for an individual to enjoy life. This however, gets altered in various diseases. Diabetes Mellitus is one of the diseases in which person has dysgeusia. OBJECTIVES: This study was done to assess different taste sensations in patients suffering from Diabetes Mellitus Type II. METHODS: A total of 120 subjects were taken in this study and were divided into 3 groups. One group consisted of patients who were uncontrolled diabetics (n = 40), the second group of controlled diabetics (n = 40) and 40 subjects who were normal healthy individuals (control group). To assess their gustatory functions, two tests were performed, whole mouth above threshold and localized taste test. Whole mouth above threshold test was performed by assessing their detection threshold for each taste. RESULTS: It was seen that patients with Diabetes Mellitus showed a high threshold to sweet, salty and sour taste. Bitter was not affected in either of the groups. The other test performed was localized (spatial) test. In this test, various parts of the oral cavity are assessed by dabbing the highest concentration of the prepared solutions and their response is noted. The tongue was divided into Left posterior tongue (LPT), Right posterior tongue (RPT), Right Anterior tongue (RAT), Left Anterior tongue (LAT). Soft palate was divided into Right Soft Palate (RSP) and Left Soft Palate (LSP). The results showed a significant difference for the sweet taste in the localized regions (right anterior tongue [RAT], left anterior tongue [LAT], right posterior tongue [RPT], left posterior tongue [LPT], right soft palate [RSP], and left soft palate [LSP]) of the mouth between the three groups (P < 0.05). The results of the salty taste showed significant differences in the RAT, LAT, RSP, and LSP regions of the mouth between the groups (P < 0.05). However, the regions of LPT and RPT showed no differences between the study groups (P > 0.05). The results showed a significant difference in the sour taste in the localized regions of the mouth in all the study groups (P < 0.05). The results of the bitter taste showed significant differences in the regions of the mouth in all the three groups (P < 0.05). However, the region of LPT showed no differences between the study groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Within the limitation of this study, it was concluded that the diabetic patients had an increased satiation effect of sweet taste therefore they needed an increased quantity of sweet taste to be perceived. It was also significant for salty and sour taste, whereas bitter taste had no significance. Spatial taste test also showed differences in different regions of the tongue, soft palate. The left posterior tongue area showed no changes.