Why can an inner ear infection cause temporary taste loss?

For taste to be affected, the taste nerves to the tongue, facial (CN VII) or glossopharyngeal (IX), would have to be involved (or the olfactory (I), but that thing's kinda weird). The facial nerve runs through the internal auditory canal with the vestibulocochlear nerve. That means that the facial nerve gets pretty close to the cochlea - if that structure got really inflamed, I guess it might be able to disrupt the facial nerve's function. (I'm not familiar with this happening, but hey, who knows. I'm still a student.) Now, I think that you meant to ask about a MIDDLE ear infection, not an inner ear one. Most "ear infections" are in the outer ear (the canal up to the ear drum) or the middle ear (between the drum and the opening in the skull that lets the little ear bones hit the cochlea/snail thing embedded in the skull). I have a hard time seeing how an uncomplicated (read: not eroding through bone or soft tissue, not causing sepsis, etc.) would be able to affect the taste nerves to the tongue. If someone knows better, please correct me!

/r/askscience Thread