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Satisfaction with dental appearance among diverse groups of dentate adults.

Xiaoxian Meng , Gilbert GH, Duncan RP, Heft MW

School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 240 South 40th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. xmeng@dental.upenn.edu

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.

Published 10 September 2007 in J Aging Health, 19(5): 778-91.
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