Self-Perceptions of Dental Appearance among Nigerian Adolescents from the Three Major Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Background: The dental appearance of an individual could impact positively or negatively on self-perception. This study compared dental aesthetic-related self-perception among the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Methods: Adolescents from the three major Nigerian tribes were randomly selected from nine secondary schools across three states. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire which sought to establish whether they were pleased with their natural dentition, aware of the possibility of dental realignment, willing to have dental realignment and their relative satisfaction compared to peers' dentition. The SPSS version 25 was used analyse the data and the statistical significance level was set at p < .05. Results: There were 1,366 adolescents aged 12-16 years comprising 599 Hausa (H), 307 Igbo (I) and 460 Yoruba (Y). Igbo had a slightly higher proportion of participants pleased or definitely pleased with their natural dentition (I(81.1%), H(80.6%), Y(79.6%). They were also the most aware of the possibility of dental realignment (I(85.0%), Y(70.4%), H(64.1%); and the most interested in having their teeth realigned (I(77,9%), Y(47.6%), H(22.5%). When compared with their peers, a greater proportion of Hausa adolescents (80.0%) were either satisfied or very satisfied with their dental appearance in comparison to Igbo (56.0%) and Yoruba (55.2%). The mean differences of the responses among the tribes for all four questions were statistically significant. Similar comparisons between genders also showed statistically significant differences.

Conclusion: There are significant differences between the tribes and between genders in terms of self-perception of dental appearances. While all tribes expressed being pleased with their natural teeth, the Igbos were significantly most likely to seek improvement in their dental appearances.