Personality style in patients looking for tooth bleaching and its correlation with treatment satisfaction

Abstract

In the last years the focus in dentistry has shifted to an "esthetic dentistry" approach, where patients are concerned about reaching a better look of their teeth. Vital tooth bleaching is a technique with immediate results, which improves the appearance and patient's self-esteem. The aim of this study was to recognize personality characteristics determined by the Millon Index of Personality Styles of participants looking for tooth bleaching and to correlate them to satisfaction with the treatment. Forty participants were included and filled out the Millon Index of Personality Styles form before treatment. Expectation about tooth bleaching was quantified from 1 to 5. Patients were treated with bleaching agent according to manufacturer's directions. One week after treatment, the patient's satisfaction was quantified from 1 to 5. Prevailing personality characteristics were determined. Expectations and satisfaction values of all patients were correlated with each of the presented personality scales by Spearman Rho test. Ten scales prevailed over their counterpart. Median of patient's expectation was 2 and satisfaction 4. Only the score of a single characteristic (extraversing) showed statistically significant correlation with patient satisfaction. Patients looking for tooth bleaching treatment seem to have common personality characteristics. Almost all of them wanted to achieve a moderate change in teeth color and the result of the treatment was usually satisfactory.