How dental education influences students' dental and dentofacial esthetic perception
has been studied for some time, given the importance of esthetics in dentistry. However,
no study before has studied this question in a large sample of students from all grades
of dental school. This study sought to fill that gap. The aim was to assess if students'
dentofacial esthetic autoperception and heteroperception are associated with their
actual stage of studies (grade) and if autoperception has any effect on heteroperception.Between
October 2018 and August 2019, a questionnaire was distributed to 919 dental students
of all 5 grades of dental school at all four dental schools in Hungary. The questionnaire
consisted of the following parts (see also the supplementary material): 1. Demographic
data (3 items), Self-Esthetics I (11 multiple- choice items regarding the respondents'
perception of their own dentofacial esthetics), Self-Esthetics II (6 Likert-type items
regarding the respondents' perception of their own dentofacial esthetics), and Image
rating (10 items, 5 images each, of which the respondents have to choose the one they
find the most attractive). Both the self-esthetics and the photo rating items were
aimed at the assessment of mini- and microesthetic features.The response rate was
93.7% (861 students). The self-perception of the respondents was highly favorable,
regardless of grade or gender. Grade and heteroperception were significantly associated
regarding maxillary midline shift (p < 0.01) and the relative visibility of the arches
behind the lips (p < 0.01). Detailed analysis showed a characteristic pattern of preference
changes across grades for both esthetic aspects. The third year of studies appeared
to be a dividing line in both cases, after which a real preference order was established.
Association between autoperception and heteroperception could not be verified for
statistical reasons.Our findings corroborate the results of most previous studies
regarding the effect of dental education on the dentofacial esthetic perception of
students. We have shown that the effect can be demonstrated on the grade level, which
we attribute to the specific curricular contents. We found no gender effect, which,
in the light of the literature, suggests that the gender effect in dentofacial esthetic
perception is highly culture dependent. The results allow no conclusion regarding
the relation between autoperception and heteroperception.
