Abstract
Objective Dental esthetic procedures are popular worldwide, and dentists are responsible for recommending several treatment options to their patients. To do this competently, dentists must have an educated opinion of their features. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the self-perception of dental esthetics among male and female dental students and assess its effect on their desired treatment. Methodology. We conducted a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study involving 450 male and female dental students from five academic years with different grade point averages (GPAs) and monthly household incomes. The questionnaire comprised four sections. The subjects selected their teeth-color preferences using a commercial shade guide. The outcomes were presented using descriptive statistics and were compared with Pearson's chi-square test. The level of statistical significance was set at a p-value of 0.05. Results Female students (52%) showed a significantly higher preference for changing their tooth color (shade B1 was desired most often), whereas male students reported a higher need for orthodontic treatment and ceramic veneers (p < 0.0001 and p=0.002). Fifth-year students were more satisfied with their teeth color as compared with 1st-year students (p=0.047). High-GPA students showed significantly lower confidence regarding their smiles (p=0.030). A high percentage of students (39.1%) with household incomes of less than 10,000 SR preferred tooth-colored restorations. Conclusion We concluded that the majority of dental students were confident about their smiles. Senior students were more satisfied with their teeth color, while younger students desired whiter teeth. Bleaching and orthodontics were the most desired treatment options.
Highlights
IntroductionModern society is placing increasing value on physical esthetics, with dental esthetic procedures gaining prominence for their ability to complement facial beauty [1, 2]. e positive psychosocial effect of pleasant facial esthetics is a major reason for patients (especially young individuals) to seek corrective dental treatment [3, 4]. e need for esthetic facial changes is often self-perceived and can influence an individual’s self-confidence and quality of life [5,6,7,8,9].Among the many dental principles on facial proportion, several are directed toward anterior teeth since they are critical for a pleasant smile [10, 11]
No Saudi Arabian studies have compared the self-perception of their own dental esthetics among male and female dental students with respect to factors such as their academic year, grade point averages (GPAs), and monthly household income
We intended to enroll an equal number of subjects from each academic year, but the number of responses from the 4th- and 5th-year students was marginally less
Summary
Modern society is placing increasing value on physical esthetics, with dental esthetic procedures gaining prominence for their ability to complement facial beauty [1, 2]. e positive psychosocial effect of pleasant facial esthetics is a major reason for patients (especially young individuals) to seek corrective dental treatment [3, 4]. e need for esthetic facial changes is often self-perceived and can influence an individual’s self-confidence and quality of life [5,6,7,8,9].Among the many dental principles on facial proportion, several are directed toward anterior teeth since they are critical for a pleasant smile [10, 11]. In addition to smile design, esthetic dentistry has other aspects, such as facial symmetry, occlusion, the role of the buccal corridor, the “golden proportion,” and appearance of the gingiva––all of which positively or negatively influence a patient’s smile, confidence, and beauty [12,13,14,15,16,17]. No Saudi Arabian studies have compared the self-perception of their own dental esthetics among male and female dental students with respect to factors such as their academic year, GPA, and monthly household income. To address this research gap, we aimed to evaluate self-perceived esthetics among male and female dental students from different academic years at our university and assess the effect of their perception on the desired esthetic treatment
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