Relationships between gustatory function tests
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 29, 2025

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test
Published on: August 17, 2018
Min-Goo Kang1, Jee-Hye Choi2,3, Hong-Seop Kho1,4
1Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Diagnosis, School of Dentistry and Dental Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Objectives:
To investigate the relationships among four different gustatory function tests in healthy young adults: electrogustometry (EGM), filter paper disk (FPD), whole-mouth, and taste strip methods. The relationships of the results of gustatory function tests with salivary flow rate were also investigated.
Methods:
Sixty healthy young adults (30 men, 26.9 ± 4.7 years; 30 women, 25.7 ± 4.6 years) who did not have disorders or conditions related with gustatory function were included. Four different gustatory function tests using the EGM, FPD, whole-mouth, and taste strip methods were performed in each participant with 2- to 3-day intervals between tests. The flow rates of unstimulated and stimulated whole saliva were measured.
Results:
There were no significant differences between sexes in all the examined gustatory function tests. The levels of correlations between the gustatory function tests were low. The EGM threshold correlated with the taste score of the FPD method in the chorda tympani nerve area. Different chemical gustatory function tests did not correlate significantly in any of the four taste qualities. Salivary flow rates did not correlate with taste perception.
Conclusions:
The correlations between gustatory function tests were weak. A significant correlation was found between the results of EGM and FPD methods in the chorda tympani nerve area.
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