Hi George: I had a stage 1 scc that was rather shallow that was excised in October of 2002. My oral surgeon told me that I would retain 60 to 90% of sense of taste. I was eating dinner in November and it was almost liked the electricity sputtering and going off. I literally lost my sense of taste instantly like you lose it when you get a cold. It gradually came back but not fully. It's interesting that food that doesn't have a strong flavor like a mild cheese or vanilla ice cream I seem to taste more. What was also gradually changing was my sense of smell. I thought that it would compensate for the loss of taste - I actually smell things that other people don't smell and yet I can't smell some things that were automatic before like different kinds of flowers, etc - some I can - some are faint. I've had it checked out - there's no physical reason for it - it just is. Anyone experience something strange like this when they haven't had any other treatment than surgery? Hmmmm...