Treatments for smell and taste disorders: A critical review

Abstract

A key concern of both the patient and physician is whether treatment is available that will eliminate or quell a given chemosensory disturbance. In cases where obvious oral, nasal, or intracranial pathology is involved, rational straightforward approaches to treatment are often available. In cases where damage to the sensory pathways is secondary to chronic inflammatory disease, trauma, viral invasion, toxic exposure, or unknown causes, the direction for therapy is more challenging. Indeed, many chemosensory disorders, if present for any period of time, cannot be reversed, while others spontaneously remit without any therapeutic intervention. This review assesses the strengths and weaknesses of more than two dozen approaches to treatment that have been suggested for a wide range of taste and smell disorders.

Keywords: Ageusia; Anosmia; Hypogeusia; Hyposmia; Nasal disease; Olfaction; Olfactory training; Parkinson's disease; Taste; Therapy; Treatment; Zinc; α-Lipoic acid.