Perception of personal dental appearance in young adults: relationship between occlusion, awareness, and satisfaction

Information about the individual perception of a patient's own occlusion is considered of importance in orthodontics. One hundred thirty young adults (mean age, 18.1 years) were clinically examined and interviewed with the purpose of relating self-awareness and satisfaction to the actual occlusal status and determining whether dissatisfaction is based on realistically perceived anomalies. From study casts taken at the time of examination, six anterior traits were recorded as either malocclusion, minor deviation, or near-ideal occlusion according to two sets of criteria. Self-awareness was assessed by analyzing agreement between the subjects' reports on the presence of the six traits and the corresponding recordings. Satisfaction was evaluated from three questions with fixed alternative answers. The majority of the young adults (63%) were characterized as having near-ideal occlusion or only minor deviations. Only mild and moderate malocclusions were present in the sample since severe malocclusions are routinely treated during childhood. The subjects were generally aware of anterior traits. Almost all the subjects (98%) with near-ideal occlusion or minor deviations expressed satisfaction. Malocclusion was present in 14 of the 16 subjects who were dissatisfied, and dissatisfaction was based on realistically perceived anomalies. However, traits rated as malocclusion were present in 30% of the satisfied subjects, which may in part be explained by the mild degree of malocclusion in the sample. Awareness of occlusal traits varied among the satisfied subjects.