Perception about tooth colour and appearance among patients seen in a tertiary hospital, South-West, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: Assessments of patients’ satisfaction with their dental appearance, and teeth as well as the factors that influence these variables. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic data, questions on patients’ satisfaction with tooth colour, perceived malalignment of teeth, non-aesthetic anterior tooth-coloured restoration and presence of tooth fracture were distributed. Data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM, SPSS version 20). Chi square was used to test the statistical differences at a significance of p? 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 410 patients (M=147, F=263) participated in the study. About 73% had tertiary education while 36.3% were within the modified ISCO-08 Group 2. The respondents that were satisfied with the general dental appearance and tooth shade were 66.3% and 63.5% respectively. More males (65.1%) than females (62.7%) were satisfied with tooth colour and more females (69.1%) were satisfied with dental appearance. The older age group were more satisfied with dental appearance and tooth colour. Awareness of tooth whitening (Over 80%) and the desire to undergo tooth whitening was more among the post-secondary individuals. More of dental patients (73.1%) than medical (59.2%) were satisfied with teeth appearance (p=0.003). CONCLUSION: Patients are increasingly aware of their dental appearance/tooth colour and the need to improve it with tooth bleaching and/or orthodontic treatment. Female are more dissatisfied with their tooth colour but more satisfied with their dental appearance than the male. Older people are more satisfied with their dental appearance and tooth colour compared to the younger age group.