Self-reported satisfaction with teeth and associated factors in 12-year-olds

To explore self-reported satisfaction with teeth in 12-year-old children, and to study whether satisfaction was associated with child characteristics, oral health behaviours and previous experiences with teeth and dental treatment.

Data were retrieved from dental records of 4725 children and questionnaires including information on satisfaction with teeth, gender, parents' origin, parents' education, dental anxiety, tooth brushing frequency, use of dental floss, toothache, pain at last dental visit and caries. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. Data were crosstabulated and tested using Chi-square statistics and multivariable logistic regression. The study was ethically approved.

Most children (68%) were satisfied with their teeth. Children who were dissatisfied with teeth were more likely to have negative experiences with their teeth and dental treatment with higher probability of having experienced toothache (OR 1.6, CI 1.4-1.8), pain at last dental visit (OR 1.4, CI 1.2-1.6) or dental anxiety (OR 1.2, CI 1.1-1.4) than other children. In addition, children with caries in their primary (OR 1.4, CI 1.2-1.7) and permanent teeth (OR 1.2, CI 1.0-1.4) were more likely to be dissatisfied than those without caries.

Most 12-year-olds were satisfied with their teeth. The strongest indicator for being dissatisfied was experiences with toothache, pain at last dental visit or caries while parents' origin and education were less important.