EFFECT OF TOOTH LOSS ON SOCIAL APPEARANCE ANXIETY AND ORAL HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS

Purpose: The aim of this study is to assess the level of social appearance anxiety and oral health-related quality of life among dental students with and without tooth loss. Methods: This case-control, single-center study was conducted on undergraduate dental students (n=205) from 1st to 4th year. The questionnaire that includes the following items: age, sex, number of missing teeth and location, Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), and Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) were distributed to students. Results: There was no statistically significant relation between the presence of tooth loss and distribution of SAAS scores (p= 0.692). However, there was a statistically significant relation between presence of tooth loss and number of missing teeth, and the OHIP-14 scores (p = 0.002, p = 0.003). Factors of gender and location of missing teeth were not found to be significantly associated with SAAS and OHIP-14 scores (p.0.05). In addition, there was a positive and significant relationship between SAAS and OHIP-14 scores (p<0.001). Conclusions: The present study showed that level of oral health-related quality of life was lower in dental students with tooth loss. On the other hand tooth loss has no significant association with social appearance anxiety in dental students.