Satisfaction with dental appearance among diverse groups of dentate adults.

OBJECTIVES

To quantify (a) the prevalence of dissatisfaction with dental appearance in a diverse sample of dentate adults and (b) the associations between dissatisfaction with dental appearance, sociodemographic factors, and other measures of oral health.

METHODS

Data were taken from the Florida Dental Care Study , a population-based longitudinal cohort study of oral health and related behaviors. The sample included 873 participants at baseline. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression were conducted to analyze the baseline data in the current report.

RESULTS

Females, problem-oriented dental attenders, and participants who had not completed high school were significantly more dissatisfied with their dental appearance than their respective counterparts. Dissatisfaction with dental appearance was also independently associated with six specific clinical and self-reported measures of oral health.

DISCUSSION

Dissatisfaction with dental appearance was common in this population-based sample of middle-aged and older adults, and was significantly associated with key sociodemographic and oral health factors.