What Does A Garlic Taste In Your Mouth Mean?

Tasting garlic in the mouth can have a variety of reasons, partly depending on how long this taste has been there. If it is fairly recent, it could well be a left over taste or smell from the last time garlic was eaten. Just a tiny piece stuck somewhere between the teeth or in a cavity can produce both smells and tastes for ages.

• Taste buds

There are approximately 10,000 taste buds in a person's mouth. While most of them are situated on or around those tiny bumps on the tongue, many of them are under the tongue, at the back of one's throat, all over the roof of one's mouth, inside the cheeks and on the lips.

• Primary tastes

Between these taste buds, five primary tastes are detected, namely sweet, sour, salty, bitter and Umami, a taste which detects the salts contained in certain acids, such as monosodium glutamate, for instance.

Every taste is ultimately sensed through a combination of these primary tastes. Smoking or burning the mouth with food or drinks that are too hot can damage taste buds enough to create strange tastes in the mouth.

• Nasal region

It should also be noted that some of the tongue's nerve endings can pick up unpleasant or irritating sensations from the nasal region. A cold, sinusitis or something similar could therefore equally be the cause of strange taste sensations.

• Other causes

Poor oral hygiene, a dry mouth, certain medications or medical conditions, aging, radiation or chemotherapy and fungal infections of the tongue or mouth, to name but a few, may all be causes of a foul or metallic taste.

• Getting medical advice

More often than not, the problem will disappear on its own. If it is persistent for prolonged periods, seeking medical advice will help to discern the cause.

If it is not because you have eaten a lot of it in the past couple days, then you may have some acid reflux problems that you need to see your doctor about.