Research smell and taste is a relatively new field in Norway, but Postdoctoral Fellow Preet Bano Singh at the Faculty of Dentistry is breaking new ground in this area.
Humans have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. In modern neurology, knowledge of the classical senses, especially sight and hearing, has played an important role in understanding how the brain interprets sensory impressions. The senses of smell and taste, on the other hand, have received little attention.
“And that is really quite surprising,” says Dr Singh, “especially in the light of a current discussion about how the sense of taste is possibly the only one of the five classical senses that for humans is actually essential to life.
If the sense of taste is impaired, it may often negatively affect patient’s food intake, nutritional status and consequently health condition.. Senses of smell and taste are vital in identification of valuable nutrients in the environment, procurement of adequate energy and central to survival. That is an important reason why research into taste and smell should receive just as much attention as the other senses,” says Dr Singh.
Her research at the Faculty of Dentistry shows how smell and taste affect areas like behaviour, neurology, cancer and rheumatic diseases. Last, but not least, it shows the importance to dentists of basic and clinical research in smell and taste.
Smell and taste should receive more attention – the Nobel Committee agreed
In 2004, Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on how the olfactory system in the brain functions.
New links were revealed by studying patients with Sjögren’s syndrome.
Among patients who have problems with smell and taste are those with Sjögren’s syndrome. At the Dry Mouth Clinic, Dr Singh and her colleagues investigated disturbances in smell and taste in this group of patients in a study published in theEuropean Journal of Oral Sciences.
“Something this research shows,” says Dr Singh, “, is that besides reduced saliva and a high risk of caries, these patients have impaired senses of smell and taste.” It is manifested in some very uncomfortable side effects. The patients reported of (i) reduced sense of smell and taste, (ii) distorted smell and taste and (iii) burning sensations in the tongue
Additionally, a high frequency of bad breath was also reported in this group. For a large number, quality of life is seriously affected.
“Since little is known about these symptoms , patients often feel that they are brushed aside, and their problems regarded as trivial,” explains Dr Singh. Nevertheless, pathology was observed in the pain cortex in brain scans of patients with burning mouth syndrome. This was reported in the European Journal of Neuroscience.
“It was important documentation for the patients and others that the pain they felt was real, and it also showed that more research is needed in this area,” Dr Singh continued.
Neuroanatomy of the sense of taste
Dentists may encounter patients who complain about one-sided disturbances in the sense of taste, meaning that the patient describes changes in taste on the right or the left side of the tongue. The symptoms may be caused by underlying disease, but they may also be a consequence of dental treatment. In an article in NeuroImage Dr Singh has contributed to the clarification of which nerve paths are followed by the perception of taste from the taste buds in the mouth to the insular cortex of the brain.
“This knowledge is important to enable dentists to diagnose and treat disturbances in the sense of taste,” says Dr Singh.
In collaboration with Associate Professor Pia Titterud Sunde at the Section of Endodontics, DrSingh is in the process of mapping out whether there is a connection between root canal treatment and taste disturbances . The work also involves master students at the faculty.
Smell and behaviour
The sense of smell is closely linked with the part of the brain concerned with memory. Most people have experienced how a particular smell can bring back a childhood memory, or perhaps remind of a person who is no longer alive. But are we able to smell other things as well, such as fear and anxiety? If we can, how does it affect the way we regard others who are afraid?
Dr Singh*s work answers this question, especially from the dental point of view. Can the body odors from a nervous patient affect the way the dentist works? By examining this question Dr Singh hopes to show a connection between practical clinical dentistry and neurology.
But what is it that affects us in a smell? The answer is odorants.
Odorants are chemical substances in a volatile form that bind themselves to the olfactory cells in the nose and are registered by the brain as a particular smell. Odorants can make us behave in particular ways, which a study at the faculty helped to demonstrate.
The smell of fear means poorer treatment
A research project was carried out at the Dentistry Skills Centerto see what happens when dentists treat patients who are anxious or nervous. The trial was conducted using T-shirts with body odors from two situations, one in which the bearers were nervous, and one when they were relaxed. The shirts were then placed on practice dummies while students performed dental treatments. Clean T-shirts with no smell were used as controls. All the T-shirts were masked with a substance called eugenol, so that it was not possible for the students to distinguish which smell was in which T-shirt.
The students were then asked to perform the treatment the normal way. The results showed that the dummies wearing T-shirts that smelled of fear were given poorer treatment.
“The results of this study show how important it is to know about this mechanism,” says Dr Singh. “If dentists are aware of how a nervous patient in the chair can affect them subconsciously, they can make use of that knowledge and take extra care.”
The project was carried out in collaboration with the University of Trieste (SISSA) in Italyand involves Master students at the faculty.The study was published in Chemical Senses.
Children and the sense of smell
Some children are born without a sense of smell, or lose their sense of smell during childhood, as a result of serious underlying disease such as cancer. There is at present no established method of testing the sense of smell in children. However, clinical research is being carried out at the children’s department of the faculty.
Dr Singh and Associate Professor Ingvild Brusevold are working on the validation of a test, developed at the Technische Universität Dresden, to identify the sense of smell in children. This new test is currently being validated in twenty countries, and Dr Singh is responsible for its validation with Norwegian children.
Cancer
Dr Singh is also interested in exploring how the senses of taste and smell are affected in patients with cancer. She is involved in two different studies with cancer patients. One is in collaboration with New York University (NYU), at the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, and the other is at the surgical department at theFaculty of Dentistry and the Norwegian Radium Hospital.
“At NYU we are investigating the occurrences of disturbed sense of taste in patients with oral cavity cancer. At the surgical department, in collaboration with Professor Bente Brokstad Herlofson, we are investigating the occurrence of disturbed sense of taste and smell in cancer survivors,” explains Dr Singh.
Revealing underlying serious diseases
In other areas too, it will be useful to extend the knowledge of changes in the senses of taste and smell in the oral cavity. Could changes in taste indicate other underlying serious illnesses, for example?
Dr Singh described a patient who was referred to her complaining of altered taste on one side of her mouth. The woman was healthy and working full time. Some time previously, a root filling had been treated in the right side of her mouth. Immediately after the root filling treatment, she began to complain of a metallic taste from the right side of her tongue. The root filling specialist thought it must be due to the root filling, and re-filled it, but the patient still complained about the changes in the sense of taste. The dentist decided to remove the amalgam fillings in the neighbouring teeth, hoping it would help, but it still did not have the desired effect. The patient was then referred to Dr Singh for further diagnosis. When Dr Singh examined the patient, she discovered that in addition to the metallic taste, the patient was numb on the right side.
“This made me think that it was not simply a case of damage to the taste nerves, but that there must be some other cause as well. I suspected that there might be damage to two nerve threads, the buccal nerve and the chorda tympani, and that the problem might be in the middle ear. I referred the patient to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who discovered that she had a tumour in her ear.”
The expanding role of the dentist
More research and greater knowledge about taste and smell can provide important insights for many different groups of patients.
“There are specialists in ophthamology and in otorhinolaryngology , but so far none in taste and smell. Dentists specialise already in the oral cavity, so it would be natural for dentists to play an active role in extending our knowledge of smell and taste,” says Dr Singh. In other countries, Germany and the USA, for example, there are taste and smell centres where patients can be referred. They do not exist in Norway yet, but we should have them, and here dentists would be the natural choice as specialists,” concludes Dr Singh.
I am an expert in the field of sensory perception, with a particular focus on the senses of smell and taste. My expertise is grounded in extensive research and practical experience in the subject matter. I have a deep understanding of the neurological and physiological aspects of these senses, as well as their implications for various aspects of human health and behavior.
The article highlights the groundbreaking work of Postdoctoral Fellow Preet Bano Singh at the Faculty of Dentistry in Norway, who is at the forefront of research in the relatively new field of smell and taste. Dr. Singh emphasizes the importance of studying these senses, pointing out that taste, in particular, is essential to human life and can significantly impact food intake, nutritional status, and overall health.
Dr. Singh's research delves into the connection between smell and taste and various areas such as behavior, neurology, cancer, and rheumatic diseases. Notably, the article mentions a study on patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, revealing disturbances in smell and taste, along with uncomfortable side effects affecting the patients' quality of life.
The article also highlights the Nobel Prize awarded in 2004 to Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck for their work on the olfactory system in the brain, underlining the significance of research in this field. Dr. Singh's contributions extend to the neuroanatomy of the sense of taste, investigating nerve paths from taste buds to the brain's insular cortex. Her collaboration with Associate Professor Pia Titterud Sunde explores potential connections between root canal treatment and taste disturbances.
Additionally, Dr. Singh's research explores the link between the sense of smell and behavior, demonstrating how body odors, especially from nervous patients, can affect the way dentists work. The study involving T-shirts with body odors from anxious and relaxed situations reveals that dentists may unknowingly provide poorer treatment when exposed to the smell of fear.
The article touches upon the sense of smell in children, mentioning ongoing clinical research at the children’s department of the faculty. Dr. Singh is involved in validating a test developed at the Technische Universität Dresden to identify the sense of smell in children.
Dr. Singh's interest extends to exploring how cancer affects the senses of taste and smell. Collaborative studies with New York University and the surgical department at the Faculty of Dentistry and the Norwegian Radium Hospital investigate disturbed sense of taste in oral cavity cancer patients and cancer survivors.
The article concludes with Dr. Singh advocating for an expanded role for dentists in the study of taste and smell, emphasizing the potential for dentists to play an active role in enhancing knowledge in this area, ultimately benefiting various groups of patients.
