Impact of Idealized Online Content on Smile Satisfaction in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The objective of this study was to explore the short-term impact of a brief, curated exposure to social networking site content on facial and smile dissatisfaction and face-related self-discrepancy among young adults. Additionally, the study aims to compare these effects with the use of appearance-neutral Instagram images.

A randomized control trial was conducted at Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine for a duration of 1 month. Freshly inducted students with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (first year) with no prior knowledge of smile parameters were asked questions about their satisfaction with their smiles. They were then divided into groups of 2 where both of the groups were shown images from social media. Half of the group was shown images of an idealized smile (#hollywoodsmile), whereas the other group was kept as control and shown images of nature (#nature). Both groups were asked to fill out the same questionnaire again to note down any difference this experiment made in their perceptions.

The study comprised predominantly female participants in both the experimental (74.1%) and control (70.4%) groups, with a mean age of 19.61 ± 1.86 and the majority (70.9%) spending one to 2 h on Instagram daily. Both groups maintained relatively stable OES scores from pre- to post-exposure, with no significant differences observed. Whereas the experimental group exhibited higher mean SACS scores (4.74 ± 1.75) than the control group (3.28 ± 2.07). Lastly, the SDI analysis of the experimental and control group post-exposure showed similar results.

Our study suggests that despite frequent engagement with social media, individuals tend to report satisfaction with their smiles.

The study was registered at clinicaltrials. gov, date: 03/23/2023; identifier NCT05798650.