Taste buds are small, onion-shaped clusters of 50-100 cells that detect taste. Most sit in the fungiform, foliate and circumvallate papillae of the tongue, but some lie in the soft palate, pharynx and epiglottis. A typical adult has a few thousand of them, and each opens to the surface through a tiny taste pore.
| Location | Mainly in the fungiform, foliate and circumvallate papillae of the tongue; also the soft palate, pharynx and epiglottis |
|---|---|
| Parts |
|
| Nerve Supply | Chorda tympani (CN VII) for the anterior two-thirds of the tongue; Glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX) for the posterior third; Greater petrosal nerve (CN VII) for the soft palate; Vagus nerve (CN X) for the epiglottis and pharynx |
| Blood Supply | Lingual artery (dorsal lingual and deep lingual branches) |
Detect dissolved chemicals in food and drink and signal the five basic tastes, helping to judge nutrients and avoid toxins.
Taste cells detect sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami, and all regions of the tongue can sense all five; the old tongue map is a myth. Taste cells are replaced roughly every 10 days, so chemotherapy and radiotherapy commonly disturb taste. Much of what people call taste is actually smell, so smell loss often presents as loss of flavour.
Distorted or unpleasant taste, often metallic, linked to medicines, zinc deficiency, infections, chemotherapy or nerve injury.
Complete or partial loss of taste, which may follow chorda tympani damage in ear surgery, Bell palsy, head injury or radiotherapy.
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