Follow-up study of dental students' esthetic perceptions of mild dental fluorosis.

OBJECTIVES: Several studies have assessed people's esthetic perceptions of dental fluorosis, suggesting that concerns may be greater than believed previously. Few studies have assessed dental students' perceptions and none has done so over time. The purpose of this paper is to report on changes in dental students' esthetic perceptions of dental fluorosis and other conditions.
METHODS: Fourth-year dental students (n=45) completed questionnaires about computer-generated photographs of fluorosis and other conditions, using the same protocol as when they were entering dental students. Results were compared for each of the eight images at the individual level using paired statistical tests.
RESULTS: Although many patterns were generally consistent, there were a substantial number of differences in results over time, concerning both the mild fluorosis and non-fluorosis images. In general, students tended to score both fluorosis and non-fluorosis images more favorably as fourth-year students. When rating images from very pleased (1) to very embarrassed (10), fourth-year students rated the images significantly more favorably than they had done as first-year students for normal/control, incisal third only dental fluorosis, and a more generalized, mild fluorosis. Similarly, with a visual analog scale from satisfactory (0) to unsatisfactory (69), fourth-year students reported significantly lower (more favorable) scores than they had done as first-year students for the normal/control, diastema/no fluorosis, more involved mild fluorosis, and incisal third only mild fluorosis. There were no obvious changes in the relative levels of favorable evaluation of fluorosis vs. the other conditions.
CONCLUSIONS: Fourth-year dental students generally had more favorable esthetic perceptions of mild dental fluorosis and other conditions than they had reported as entering students.