Understanding our taste bud

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There are times when there are people who prefer sweet foods while other people like me prefer a good pasta with meat sauce. When we appreciate all kinds of food, it is very common for our mouths to water, but flavor alterations could appear due to some diseases.

Somehow different reasons occur where the transfer of flavors to the brain is somewhat interrupted, changing the way the tongue interprets the flavors.
When this happens the person can tell the difference when putting it in the mouth that causes a distortion of the taste up to a complete loss of the taste senses.

Taste is one of the 5 complete senses that our body has that joins touch, hearing, sight and smell. To taste, the tongue has around 10,000 taste buds that connect to the brain and send that sensation of food.

These papillae are located in different parts of the tongue and each part of it is capable of detecting basic flavors such as: sweet, salty, sour and bitter.
There are diseases that can cause an alteration in the papillae with the consequence of altering the flavor or loss of taste.

This type of difficulties is called hypogeusia while diseases that are very Characteristic due to the ability to detect any taste are called ageusia. In the total loss of taste it is rare, but usually it can be a reflection of the loss of smell which can be confused with the loss of taste.

This alteration is caused by gastrointestinal reflux diseases, infections of the saliva glands, sinusitis, poor oral hygiene or medications. Taste problems can be caused by any factor that disrupts the brain's taste sensation or diseases that can alter the way the brain interprets this sensation.

That is why it is very important to be aware of any type of changes when eating your favorite dessert or if you feel the need to add more salt or sugar to what we eat. The important thing is to go to a professional to evaluate if you have any changes in taste and do not forget to maintain good oral hygiene to avoid this type of problem.