Chemosensory disorders are encountered frequently in the practice of otolaryngology and have a significant impact on patient quality of life. True disturbances in taste are less common, but usually an alteration in the perception of flavors occurs because of dysfunction in the sense of smell. There is an extraordinary capacity of the olfactory system to regenerate, and although disorders in the sense of smell are relatively uncommon they can occur at every step of odorant transduction. It is important to recognize the most common forms of olfactory disturbances and be able to perform an adequate history and physical exam. Various testing protocols are available to assist physicians in the workup of these disorders. The physician should be able to make decisions in the intelligent use of several imaging tools available for diagnosis of specific pathology. Therapies are based on the diagnosed mechanism of dysfunction. In most cases of neural olfactory loss, therapies are few although olfactory training has provided some improvement. It is important for the physician to counsel the patient on the hazards of olfactory loss and recognize any psychological sequelae.