Sunday Tea Hoots 36 – Dental Work and Tea Taste

In a rush to use all my dental insurance, as well as having a broken tooth, I got a whole slew of dental work done at the end of 2017. Every week I was going in for a new section of fillings or sealants to be placed. What I found was weird (besides me reacting badly each time to numbing shots) is how dental work affected taste.

Each time I had dental work it bothered me enough that I don’t do any tea review tea drinking or drink good tea for a couple days.  For me, I found the sealant leaves a strange plastic taste in my mouth, though it goes away in a day. The fillings also make a change in taste too that I can’t describe. Part of it likely is adjusting off whatever weird taste in my mouth I am used to (cavities) or getting rid of taste left from the work.

Tea Owl has a cavity-free beak.

Of course, I’m no owl dentist. I googled around, and there is plenty of message boards complaining their new crowns making things taste off as the crown material is reacting to foods. Tooth decay from cavities (or worse) can leave a taste a weird in the mouth too as well as bad breath.

I find it interesting how people taste things differently. I do the best as I can to describe how tea tastes, but it still might not read the same for you as the reader. Before all this dental work, I figured taste difference was mostly perception and experience – being able to pair flavor notes as something you tasted or smelled before. The Supertaster genetic variation and smell ability also add a biological component to being able to taste. Being a tea reviewer works well for me as I eat a lot of weird stuff and my sense of smell is strong, though I am sure I am not a supertaster as I love spicy, bitter greens, and sweets. There is also a whole slew of other things that affect taste like being sick and various conditions. I will now add dental carries to the list of things that makes ones taste to go off.

That said, take care of your teeth tea folks!

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