Tonsillectomy Surgical Practices May Play a Role in Taste Disorders

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December 2012

Prolonged tongue depression from a mouth gag during surgery could result in taste disturbance.

Whether post-tonsillectomy taste dysgeusia resolves in a matter of weeks or months, otolaryngologists suspect that certain surgical practices performed during the procedure could be to blame.

In a classic, or total, tonsillectomy procedure in which electro-dissection is used to remove each tonsil from the tonsillar fossa, if the glossopharyngeal nerve is damaged during dissection or electrocautery, the patient may develop a taste disorder that, in some cases, can last several months (Laryngoscope. 2004;114(7):1206-1213; J Laryngol Otol. 2003;117(4):314-317).

Likewise, post-tonsillectomy taste dysgeusia may result from surgical injury, tongue compression, inflammatory processes or side effects of local anesthetics, according to researchers in Germany (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 2010;109(1):e11-e14).

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