[A survey on general knowledge and influencing factors of dental aesthetics among three universities students in Fuzhou city].

PURPOSE: To investigate the general knowledge of dental aesthetics among three universities students in Fuzhou city and the factors influencing their satisfaction with general dental appearance and the color of anterior teeth.

METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on 506 university students in Fuzhou city to identify their general knowledge of dental aesthetics. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors influencing the study populations' satisfaction with dental appearance and the color of anterior teeth with SPSS 13.0 software package.

RESULTS: The 506 respondents consisted of 220 males (43.5%) and 286 females (56.5%), with a mean age of 22.65 years (SD=1.95). 53.6% of these participants were not satisfied with their dental appearance, 57.2% were not satisfied with the color of their anterior teeth. The majority of the participants (66%) chose tooth bleaching as the most desired treatment to improve their dental appearance. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that respondents' dissatisfaction with dental appearance was significantly associated with gender (OR=1.94, 95% CI: 1.03-3.68), the opinion that their teeth were irregular (OR=2.70, 95% CI: 1.61-4.54) and unhappiness with anterior teeth color (OR=4.27; 95% CI: 2.47-7.33). The results also indicated that respondents' dissatisfaction with the color of anterior teeth was significantly associated with the professional learning experience of dentistry (OR=0.26, 95% CI: 1.61-4.54) and gender (OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.05-2.96).

CONCLUSIONS: Most of the respondents in this study are not satisfied with their dental appearance is the color of anterior teeth. Tooth bleaching is the treatment most desired by the participants. Tooth color is one of the most important factors determining whether respondents are satisfied with their dental appearance. Females pay a greater attention to dental aesthetics than males. Over one year professional learning experience of dentistry is the protective factor of respondents' satisfaction with the color of their anterior teeth.