Dental esthetic self-perception of Brazilian dental students

Abstract

Esthetics in dentistry aims to improve the patients’ self-esteem and satisfaction regarding how beautiful and attractive they feel. However, patients and dental professionals may perceive the concept of esthetics differently instead, which may cause the dissatisfaction of the patient with the results of the treatment. Objective: This cross-sectional observational study aimed to verify the esthetic self-perception of undergraduate dental students regarding their own smile. Material and methods: A questionnaire, designed by Goldstein [10] to measure the patients’ self-perception and satisfaction, regarding their smiles, was applied to undergraduate students of different semesters of the School of Dentistry of the Federal University of Pelotas. Results: Our results showed that women are more dissatisfied with their smiles than men. Students attending different semesters worried somehow about the esthetics of their smiles and revealed the wish of having whiter teeth. Most students are satisfied with the shape of their teeth. Ninety two percent of the students feel self-confident regarding to smile, 90% believe someone else has a better smile, 87% look at the smile of models in fashion magazines, 71% wish to have whiter teeth and 80% wish to have rather a bigger or smaller teeth. Conclusion: Undergraduate dental students have a positive self-perception of their smile. Women are less satisfied than men. Students of the earlier semesters wish to have whiter teeth than students from the later semesters.