Social judgements made by children in relation to visible incisor trauma

Abstract

There is evidence to suggest that negative social judgements are made on the basis of poor dental aesthetics. This study sought to determine how children view other children with visible incisor trauma. Year 7 (aged 11-12 years) and year 10 (aged 14-15 years) school children (the participants) were invited to look at colour photographs of four different children's faces and to make a social judgement about these children (the subjects). Participants were randomly allocated either: (i) pictures of children with visible incisor trauma or, (ii) pictures of the same children whose photographs had been digitally modified to restore incisor aesthetics. Using a previously validated child-centred questionnaire, participants rated subjects using a four-point Likert scale for three negative and six positive attributes. Total attribute scores were tested for significant differences, according to whether the subject had visible incisor trauma or not, using multivariate analysis of variance (P < 0.05, MANOVA). 291 children completed the questionnaires, giving a response rate of 73%. Year 7 children viewed children with visible incisor trauma more negatively than the same child with normal incisor appearance. However, the converse was true for year 10 participants. Findings from this study concur with those from adult populations in that negative social judgements may be made on the basis of poor dental appearance. Interestingly, this would not appear to be the case in adolescence, which may relate to high levels of self-monitoring in this age-group. In view of the importance of appearance in adolescent social interaction, aesthetic dental treatment for children with incisor injury may yield important psychosocial benefits.