To Örebro University

BACKGROUND: Attitudes toward the importance of general appearance have varied much, not only over time but also among groups of individuals of different age and other characteristics. Whether the situation is similar regarding dental appearance does not seem to have been studied.

PURPOSE: The aim was to study the differences in attitudes toward dental appearance between two large samples of 50- and 60-year-old subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Identical questionnaires were sent to all subjects born in 1942 and 1952 living in two Swedish counties in 2002 (N=17,444; N50=8,881, N60=8,563). The final response rate was 72.2% (N=12,599). In this study, responses to four statements on the importance of dental appearance have been analyzed with respect to gender and age.

RESULTS: Many of the responses to the four statements differed with gender and age. To the first statement ("To have beautiful and perfect teeth is very important for how you are treated by other people"), 73% agreed at age 60 compared with 64% at age 50 (p < 0.001). Approximately 90% of the subjects agreed with the second statement ("Minor esthetic imperfections of the teeth have no importance, only they function well"). Logistic regression indicated that several variables were significantly associated with the statements. Besides age and gender, education and self-assessed dental problems were most important.

CONCLUSION: Attitudes toward the importance of dental appearance differed both between genders and age groups in these population samples living in Sweden.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The varying attitudes toward dental appearance in the population must be acknowledged in treatment decisions.