May A Ahmed
Jan 9, 2017
Citations
1
Influential Citations
3
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Journal name not available for this finding
Abstract
Introduction: Dental esthetics has become a very important concern in daily life because it has a direct impact on self-confidence, selfesteem and quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the self-evaluated smile satisfaction among a Saudi population and the desired treatment that they would like to undergo to improve their smiles. Materials & Methods: A survey study, which included 1129 participants, was performed to determine the self-evaluated smile satisfaction among the Saudi population and the treatments they hope for to improve their smiles. Result: The 1129 participants consisted of 273 males (24.2%) and 856 females (75.8%), with a median age of 26-33 years. Of these participants, 434 (38.4%) were not satisfied with their general dental appearance. In addition, 718 participants (63.6%) were dissatisfied with the color of their teeth, 381 (33.7%) reported that their teeth were poorly aligned or crowded and 337 (29.8%) reported that their teeth protruded. Tooth whitening was the treatment most desired by participants (53.7%), followed by orthodontic treatment (29.6%). Conclusion: High levels of dissatisfaction with participants’ smile appearance and a higher level of tooth color dissatisfaction were reported in this study, which provide useful information about the potential needs for dental treatment, particularly esthetic treatment, including teeth whitening, orthodontic treatment and veneers. Moreover, understanding patients’ perceptions of their smiles is an important aspect of good patient management that may help dentists to provide adequate and appropriate treatment plans for achieving a high level of patient satisfaction.