Dental Aesthetics, Self Awareness and Perception of Personal Dental Appearance in Young Adults

Background: Dental aesthetics,self awareness and perception of the personal appearance plays a vital role among young adults. Dental esthetics and appearance is important among young adult patients because judgment concerning their personal characteristics is influenced by their dental appearance in the absence of other information. Hence, it is very essential to seek Knowledge about the young adults awareness and perception of personal appearance to know about their expectations and provide treatment

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the dental aesthetics,self awareness and satisfaction with the dental appearance in young adults.

Materials and Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 19 to 25 years old young adult patients reported to Saveetha dental college and Hospital, Chennai. Following simple random sampling 150 patients were selected. This survey was conducted from December 2015 to March 2016. A Self administered questionnaire was distributed and descriptive data in terms of frequency and percentage were analysed using SPSS software (Version 17.0).

Results: The study sample consisted of 150 subjects of which 73 (48.7%) were males and 77 (51.3%%) were females. 65 (43.3%) subjects were between 19 to 21 years, 85 (56.7%) were between 22 to 25 years of age group. About 78.6% expected their teeth to be white. Maximum number of study participants (65.3%) considered that straight and beautiful teeth have significant impact on their general appearance and 63.3% responded that straight and beautiful teeth promotes better career opportunities. About 78% of the subjects were influenced by looking at the models in the magazine. Only 46.6% were willing for orthodontic treatment for correction of mal-aligned teeth.

Conclusion: Most of the participants in the present study were very much aware about the importance of straight, aligned and beautiful teeth have a significant impact on their general appearance and better career opportunities, but their willingness for orthodontic treatment is less.