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The sense of taste has great importance in health and disease. Complaints of oral discomfort associated with taste disturbances are increasingly met in the clinical setting. Altered taste perception can result from various underlying local or systemic pathology, as well as serious sensorial syndromes. Although they are not straightforward to diagnose and manage, it is important for the clinician to understand the pathphysiology of this chemosensory system, and to be able to use objective measures in order to quantify and classify the apparent symptoms, thus making the first step to correct diagnosis and treatment.

Nerve injury is a well-known complication following oral and maxillofacial surgery. Direct trauma, inflammation and infection are postoperative neural disturbances main causes. The most inflicted nerves associated with endosseous implant placement are those innervating the mandible: the inferior alveolar nerve, the mental nerve and the lingual nerve. Evaluation of the nerve injury characteristics and severity as early as possible has always imposed a great challenge for clinicians. We demonstrate a reliable yet simple way of dealing with this kind of problem in conjunction with comparing preoperative and postoperative sensation of the chin, the tongue and the lower lip. On the other hand, it is considerably important to take preventive measures for such injuries by using appropriate radiographic images. If a nerve damage has occurred, best prognosis is to be expected by early and appropriate treatment. It is imperative to treat such injuries in four months following the injury, otherwise a permanent nerve damage may occur. Further investigation of nerve damage risks following implant placement should be performed in order to enable patient to decide whether having implants dependent rehabilitation or choosing an alternative.

Saliva secretion decreases with age, although not regarded as caused solely by age. The decrease is associated among others, with diseases and medications. The aim of the study was to assess saliva secretion, dentition and oral pathologies in a hospitalized geriatric population in a genera hospital. The secretion was measured by 2 methods: saliva collection at rest and sugar cube test. 125 patients agreed to participate, with an average age of 75. They had an average of 6 diagnoses, and took 6 medications. They had 6 teeth in average, with 52% edentulous. Salivary excretion was found to be 15% low according to the saliva secretion and According to the sugar cube test, 20% suffer from xerostomia. However, no statistically significant correlations were found to age, medications, diagnoses, or number of teeth. The study population was hospitalised for short term in a general hospital, and quickly returned to the community. Therefore, we can conclude that salivary excretion is low in the geriatric population in the community, especially among those who suffer from illnesses, who need short terms hospitalization. The health care personnel should be aware of this situation and recommend saliva substitutes and stimulants.