Comparison between the opinions of Tanzanian parents and their children on dental attractiveness

The objective was to investigate the opinion of Tanzanian parents on dental attractiveness and to compare their opinion with that of their children. A prestructured questionnaire with 18 intraoral frontal photographs was given to 286 parents and their children aged 9-18 years. The photographs represented various types of occlusion traits, with the first 10 intraoral photographs representing grade 1-10 of the aesthetic component (AC) of the index of orthodontic treatment need, and the remaining eight photographs were added to represent malocclusions that are often seen in Tanzania. Basic statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. Photographs showing severe deviations were perceived by both children and parents as the most unattractive. The opinion was significantly correlated with children's age (P = .02) and sex (P < .0005), with older girls tending to dislike photographs showing severe deviations the most. The mean of the opinion for the photographs showing some spacing with overbite : 2 mm or open bite and overbite >2 mm fell in the middle of the scale, with a tendency toward unattractiveness. Photographs matching 8-10 on the AC scale were perceived as the most unattractive, indicating what could be a lay person's priority when considering an orthodontic treatment policy in Tanzania.