how to get your taste buds back after tonsillectomy

Examples of chemesthetic sensations include the burn-like irritation from chili pepper, the coolness of menthol in mouthwashes and topical analgesic creams, the stinging or tingling of carbonation in the nose and mouth, and the tear-induction of onions. These chemical-induced reactions do not fit into the traditional sense categories of taste and smell. Chemesthetic sensations arise when chemical compounds activate receptors associated with other senses that mediate pain, touch and temperature perception. This sensation contributes to the experience of flavour. It is speculated that this is necessary since the neurons interact with environmental chemicals and can be damaged over time.Ĭhemesthesis relates to the sensation resulting from the physical properties of a food or beverage in the mouth, including texture and temperature. Unlike most neurons in your body, olfactory neurons actually regenerate throughout your lifetime. The neuron interacts with any odour compounds present and transduces, or converts, the odour compounds into a neural signal that then carries odour information to the brain. These neurons interact with the odour compounds in the nasal cavity. The olfactory bulb is a bundle of olfactory neurons. The olfactory system is the sensory system used for olfaction, or the sense of smell. Taste compounds interact with the tops of these specialized cells, which then transmit taste information through nerves to the brain. Taste buds can detect sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savoury.

Each taste bud contains several taste receptor cells. The smallest functional unit of taste are the taste buds which can be found on the tongue, as well as the back of the throat and the roof of the mouth. Smell is a more distant sense allowing us to detect small concentrations of airborne substances. Taste is an immediate sense – a final checkpoint for the acceptability of food before it enters the body. They provide information about the composition of our surroundings.

How do we experience taste and what role does smell play? In fact your tastebuds are actually trainable – which can be great news for your health. If you have a weakness for unhealthy foods, a distaste to vegetables (think Broccoli!), but a desire to eat better, it’s worth knowing that your palate isn’t fixed. By Dr Michael Barakate and Dietitian Belinda Elwin

How to get your taste buds back after tonsillectomy