Dental esthetic self-perception in young adults with and without previous orthodontic treatment

The aim of this study was to determine which dental esthetic self-perception evaluation tool discriminated better between orthodontically treated or untreated Peruvian young adults. A total of 630 students were randomly chosen from the 2000 admitted in 2002 to a private university in Peru. Students undergoing active orthodontic treatment at the time of examination were excluded. Self-perceived dental esthetic appearance was evaluated through Standardized Continuum of Aesthetic Need, Oral Aesthetic Subjective Index Scale, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A stepwise multivariate discriminant analysis was developed to classify orthodontic treatment according to the three evaluation tools. A total of 199 students (31.6%) reported a history of orthodontic treatment. Differences between orthodontically treated and untreated groups were found only for the mean VAS score (P < .001). Although three different approaches were used to evaluate dental esthetic self-perception, only VAS allowed the discrimination of the self-perceived dental appearance between orthodontically treated and untreated Peruvian university young adults. Similarities in the self-perceived dental appearance of treated and untreated groups reported in previous epidemiological studies could be explained because different evaluation instruments were used. Further studies are required to support current findings.