Dental appearance and quality of life among Muhimbili University students

Background: Dental esthetics has been seen to be less important until about two decades ago. The effect of a pleasant appearance is now recognized to be very important, hence may lead to changes in patient's esthetics needs and may affect dental treatment priority. Objectives: To determine satisfaction with dental appearance and its association with oral health related quality of life among students at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted in December 2010 using Self administered questionnaire with information on socio-demographic and satisfaction with dental appearance. Oral health related quality of life was assessed using Oral Impact on Daily Performance (OIDP) inventory. Results: In this study, 492 participants were involved. Age ranged from 18 – 57 years old, mean age was 22.9, sd = 3.9. Dissatisfaction with dental appearance was present in 21.5% of the subjects. Female showed higher prevalence 28.5% of dissatisfaction with their dental appearance compared to males (P=0.01). The main factor contributed to dissatisfaction was teeth discoloration. Prevalence of OIDP was 60.6%. The most affected performance was eating (46.1%) and the least being speaking (11.4%). Those who reported impacts on performances were more likely to be females (OR - 1.5, CI: 1 – 2), and those who were not satisfied with their dental appearance (OR: 3.1, CI: 1.9 - 5.2). Conclusion: A high percentage of the university students perceived to have good dental appearance and were satisfied with their dental appearance. However the impacts of oral conditions to their dental appearance were substantial.