Journal of Dentistry, 7, No. 3, 1979, pp. 209-211.

Taste thresholds

Printed

in Grear Britain

and caries experience

D. Adams, BSc, MDS, PhD N. J. Butterfield, BDS Dental School, Heath, Cardiff

ABSTRACT Taste thresholds for sucrose and quinine have been examined in over one hundred subjects aged between 6 and 25 years. The thresholds were not related to the caries experience in this population. Sucrose thresholds were not related to quinine thresholds. There was a trend for sucrose activity to diminish with age. Low thresholds for sucrose were not related to sugar in beverages and it was concluded that taste thresholds were not related to dietary preferences.

INTRODUCTION There are conflicting reports in the literature on the relationship between taste thresholds for sweet substances and caries incidence. Catalonotto and Keene (1974) examined naval recruits and found that when a caries-free group was compared with a caries-prone group sucrose taste detection thresholds were lower in the caries-free group. This work was repeated with a further group of recruits using glucose as the test substance (Mickel et al., 1976) with similar results. The findings are at variance with those of Zengo and Mandel (1972) who, using a different test method, found higher sucrose taste thresholds in caries-free individuals compared with a caries-prone group. Both groups of workers divided their subjects into two populations with respect to caries incidence and both had a large sample of caries-free individuals. The aims of the present work were, to determine if a spectrum of taste sensitivity to a sweet substance could be related to the extent of caries involvement, and to determine whether any relationship between caries incidence and taste thresholds is restricted to substances which play a role in the carious process. It was decided to use the method of Catalonotto and his co-workers using sucrose and quinine sulphate as the test substances on a group of subjects selected without regard to their caries status.

MATERIALS

AND METHODS

The subjects were chosen from among the dental staff and students at the Cardiff Dental School and Hospital. Patients attending the Orthodontic Department of the hospital were also examined to determine if thresholds of taste were age related. The taste threshold test (Catalonotto and Keene, 1974) involved placing, successively, three drops of a liquid on the subjects tongue, only one drop containing the test substance. The subject then decided which, if any, of the three could be tasted and identified. The detection threshold was recorded as the lowest concentration at which two consecutive positive identifications were made. No identification was given to the patients of the taste which they were expected to identify. The thresholds were determined at least 1 h after eating, at least 30 min after smoking in the case of smokers and between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The test substances were sucrose and quinine sulphate. A pilot study showed that the ranges of concentration which could be tasted were 15-l 00 mmol/l for sucrose and 0*025-

Adams and Butterfield:

Taste thresholds

209

and caries experience

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Fig. 1. Sucrose thresholds plotted against scores. (Each dot represents one individual.)

DMF

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Fig. 2. Quinine thresholds plotted against score. (Each dot represents one individual.)

DMF

0.30 mmol/l for quinine sulphate. In the main experiment the range was set slightly wider than this and divided into 9 steps. For sucrose there were 10, 15, 20, 25, 30,40, 50,100, 200 mmol/land for quinine 0-012,0~25,0~5,0~75,0~10,0~15,0-2,0*3,0.4 mmol/l. Caries incidence was assessed by a DMF index using well established criteria (Todd and Whitworth, 1974). This was carried out immediately after the taste thresholds had been established. A short questionnaire was used to elicit information - age, smoking habits and sugar preference in beverages.

RESULTS A total of 103 adults and 37 children were examined. The adults ranged in age from 16 to 25 years and the children from 6 to 15 years. Our only difficulty in taste threshold testing was found with the younger children and results were variable here. The thresholds for both substances were reproducible within one or two strengths when repeated with approximately 30 per cent of the subjects on an occasion varying from one week to ten days after the first test. In the sucrose test, 15 subjects had a taste threshold at the minimum value of 10 mmol/l and 9 subjects could only detect sucrose at the highest concentration. When the subjects were separated into 4 groups according to DMF indicies, none of the subjects in the first group i.e. DMF

Taste thresholds and caries experience.

Journal of Dentistry, 7, No. 3, 1979, pp. 209-211. Taste thresholds Printed in Grear Britain and caries experience D. Adams, BSc, MDS, PhD N. J...
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