Self-Evaluated Dental Appearance Satisfaction among Young Adults

BACKGROUND: Dental appearance satisfaction is important among young adults because judgment concerning the personal characteristics of individuals is influenced by their dental appearance in the absence of other information. AIM: The aim of the study was to determine the self-evaluated dental appearance satisfaction among young adults. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional survey of financial industry prone undergraduates of University of Benin was conducted between July and September, 2010. The self-administered questionnaire which assessed information on demographic characteristics, smoking habit, alcohol use, previous dental visit, dental appearance satisfaction, tooth shape, size, arrangement and strength was the tool of data collection. The data was subjected to descriptive, Chi-square and regression statistics using statistical package for the social sciences version 17.0 (Chicago, IL, USA). (P < 0.05) was considered to be significant. RESULTS: A total of 399 undergraduates which are made up of 179 (44.9%) males and 220 (55.1%) females with mean age of 24.66 (4.20) years participated in this study. Self-evaluated dental appearance satisfaction was expressed by 79.4% (317/399) of the participants. The significant predictors of self-evaluated dental appearance satisfaction were skin color (P = 0.03, odds ratio [OR] =2.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.09-6.09) and perceived tooth strength (P = 0.02, OR = 5.83, 95% CI = 1.40-24.28) among males and alcohol consumption (P = 0.04, OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.21-0.95] and perceived size of tooth (P = 0.02, OR = 2.37, 95% CI = 1.15-4.89) among females. The significant predictors of self-evaluated dental appearance satisfaction among the participants were ethnicity (P = 0.04, OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.32-0.96), skin color (P = 0.04, OR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.03-2.93), perceived tooth size (P = 0.03, OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.07-3.09) and strength (P = 0.01, OR = 3.42, 95% CI = 1.58-7.41). CONCLUSION: Ethnicity, tooth arrangement, size and strength need to be given detailed consideration in tooth replacement as they emerged as the significant predictors of self-evaluated dental appearance satisfaction among young adults.