Does Removing Wisdom Teeth Change Your Sense of Taste?
Patients who had their wisdom teeth extracted had improved tasting abilities decades after having the surgery, according to a new study.
For most people, not in a way they would notice. Some people have a temporary change in taste after wisdom tooth surgery, which usually fades within a year. A 2021 study from the University of Pennsylvania found that people who had wisdom teeth removed, on average more than 20 years earlier, scored slightly better on taste tests than people who had not. The difference was small, the study cannot prove the surgery caused it, and it is not a reason to remove healthy wisdom teeth.
What question did the study ask?
Nerves that carry taste from the tongue run close to the lower wisdom teeth. Earlier research had focused on short-term problems, such as reduced or altered taste after surgery, and those problems were generally thought to resolve within a year. Dane Kim and Richard Doty at Penn's Smell and Taste Center asked what happens to taste over the long term.
How was it done?
The researchers looked back at records of 1,255 people who had been tested at the Smell and Taste Center over about 20 years. Of these, 891 had had wisdom teeth removed and 364 had not.
Everyone had taken the same whole-mouth taste test. They sipped and spat out solutions of sugar, salt, citric acid and caffeine at several strengths and identified each one as sweet, salty, sour or bitter. The analysis accounted for age.
What did it find?
The group that had wisdom teeth removed scored better for all four tastes.
The scores were not linked to how long ago the surgery took place.
In both groups, women scored higher than men, and taste declined with age.
According to the press release, the improvement was typically about 3 to 10 percent.
The authors suggested two possible explanations. Minor injury to one taste nerve might reduce the normal dampening it has on another taste nerve, so overall taste becomes slightly more sensitive. Or the injured nerve itself might become more sensitive over time. Neither has been tested.
What are the limits?
It looked back at existing records rather than following people before and after surgery.
The participants were people tested at a smell and taste clinic, so they may not represent the general public.
An association does not show that removing wisdom teeth improves taste. The authors said prospective studies are needed to confirm it.
What does this mean for you?
Taste changes are not a reason to remove wisdom teeth or to keep them. Whether a wisdom tooth should come out depends on whether it is causing problems or likely to, such as decay, gum infection, damage to a neighboring tooth or lack of room. Healthy, well-positioned wisdom teeth that can be kept clean are often left in place. Our post on whether wisdom teeth always need to be removed explains how that decision is made.
If you do have a wisdom tooth removed and notice a change in taste or numbness that does not improve within a few weeks, tell your dentist or oral surgeon. Our home care instructions cover recovery after an extraction. In Jacksonville, you can contact our office with questions about your wisdom teeth.
Sources
Kim D, Doty RL. Positive long-term effects of third molar extraction on taste function. Chem Senses. 2021;46:bjab032. doi:10.1093/chemse/bjab032. Retrieved via PubMed.
Penn Medicine. Press release on wisdom tooth extraction and long-term taste function, 2021.
About the author. CJ Henley, DMD, is a general dentist in Jacksonville whose practice focuses on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, dental implants and dental care around head and neck cancer. Meet Dr. Henley.
CJ Henley, DMD, PA · 3675 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32207 · 904-398-1549
Updated October 2026.
Does a Parent's Wellbeing Affect a Child's Toothbrushing?
Researchers have shown that postpartum depression can inhibit a mother's ability to instill healthy tooth brushing habits in children. The study demonstrates the need to foster greater mental support and management for mothers and incorporate these factors when assessing children's oral health.
It may, a little. In a large Japanese study, two-year-olds whose mothers had ongoing postpartum depression, or had difficulty bonding with their baby in the first year, were slightly more likely to have their teeth brushed less than twice a day. The effect was small, and a study like this can show a link but not cause. The practical lesson is that parents who are struggling deserve support, and a simple brushing routine is one thing that support can protect.
What did the researchers study?
A team led by Dr. Shinobu Tsuchiya at Tohoku University Hospital used data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study, a national study that followed families from pregnancy. They published two analyses in 2021.
Postpartum depression. Among 84,533 mother-child pairs, mothers were screened for depression one month and six months after birth. The researchers then looked at how often the children's teeth were brushed at age two.
Bonding. Among 83,954 pairs, mothers completed a questionnaire about their feelings toward their baby at one year. Again, the outcome was toothbrushing frequency at age two.
What did they find?
Children of mothers who had depression at both one and six months were slightly more likely to be brushed less often. That association weakened once the researchers accounted for whether the child brushed alone or with a parent's help.
Children of mothers with bonding difficulties had about 12 percent higher odds of being brushed only once a day rather than more often.
More than half of the two-year-olds in the study were brushed once a day, so less frequent brushing was common across all families.
What can't this study tell us?
Toothbrushing was reported by parents, not observed. The studies didn't measure cavities, so they don't show that the children had more decay. They show an association in Japanese families, and other factors the researchers couldn't measure may play a part. None of this means a parent who is struggling has failed their child.
What does this mean for families?
Postpartum depression is common and treatable. If you're a new parent who feels low, anxious or disconnected from your baby, tell your doctor or your baby's pediatrician. Getting help is good for you and for your child.
For the teeth, a simple routine helps even on hard days:
Brush twice a day from the first tooth, with a smear of fluoride toothpaste the size of a grain of rice until age three.
Tie brushing to things that already happen every day, such as bath time and breakfast.
Share the job. Any caregiver can brush a toddler's teeth.
Stay with your child while they brush until they can do it well on their own.
Our parent's guide to early childhood dental problems covers the first dental visit, bottles and fluoride. For more on what research says about early-life stress and teeth, read about growth marks in baby teeth.
Sources
Tsuchiya S, Tsuchiya M, Momma H, et al. Influence of maternal postpartum depression on children's toothbrushing frequency. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2022;50(4):300-310. doi:10.1111/cdoe.12672. Retrieved via PubMed (PMID 34117651).
Tsuchiya S, Tsuchiya M, Momma H, et al. Prospective association between maternal bonding disorders and child toothbrushing frequency: a cross-sectional study of the Japan Environment and Children's Study. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2022;32(1):56-65. doi:10.1111/ipd.12791. Retrieved via PubMed (PMID 33764606).
Tohoku University. Good toothbrushing habits in children linked to mother's wellbeing. Press release, July 2021.
About the author. CJ Henley, DMD, is a general dentist in Jacksonville whose practice focuses on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, dental implants and dental care around head and neck cancer. Meet Dr. Henley.
CJ Henley, DMD, PA · 3675 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32207 · 904-398-1549
Updated October 2026.