Dental esthetic self-perception of Brazilian dental students

Resumo

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.