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The Relationship of Aesthetic Dentistry Practices with Depression and Social Appearance Anxiety in Young Women

2024    Öcal, Fikri; Öcal Demirtaş, Yasemin

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between depression and social appearance anxiety in young
female patients who applied for aesthetic dental treatment.
Methodology: The study was conducted in a single centre and included 56 female patients aged 18–35 years. The mean
age of the participants was 22.27 ± 5.62 years. Participants were informed before treatment, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were administered. Immediately
after the treatment and 1 month later, the SAAS and VAS were administered again. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used for
the comparison of the data obtained and the Friedman test was used for temporal comparison. Multiple comparisons
were made with Dunn’s test.
Results: After aesthetic dental treatment, all participants’ satisfaction with the appearance of their teeth increased, and
social appearance anxiety decreased (p < 0.001). The group with the lowest pretreatment satisfaction level was the group
with moderate/high-level depressive symptoms. There was no correlation between the severity of depression and the increase in satisfaction after treatment (r = 0.247; p = 0.066). Satisfaction levels were similar in all depression groups after
treatment. The group with the highest level of social appearance anxiety before and after treatment was the group with
moderate/high-severity depressive symptoms. A moderate positive correlation was found between depression severity
and social appearance anxiety (r = 0.4; p = 0.002).
Conclusions: The severity of depressive symptoms seen before treatment does not affect the level of satisfaction after
treatment. There is a decrease in social appearance anxiety after aesthetic dental treatment. There is a positive relationship between social appearance anxiety and depression severity.
Key words: aesthetic treatment, depression, social appearance anxiety, women