Investigation of the social media posts effect on dental self-confidence, aesthetic satisfaction and self-esteem in dentistry

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to measure the dental aesthetic satisfaction, dental self-confidence and self-esteem of adults as a result of encountering various dental topics, pictures or advertisements on social media Method: A survey about demographics, aesthetic dentistry and social media use, dental self-confidence and satisfaction, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory (RSES) was administered to 592 participants between the ages of 19 and 59 who use social media. The obtained data were evaluated through SPSS 22.0 software. The statistical significance level was determined as p<0.05 and was evaluated with the Pearson chi-square test. Frequency analysis was performed and the results are given as percentages. Results: Approximately half of the participants, 61.5% of whom are women and 38.5% of whom are men, spend more than 2 hours a day on social media. A statistically significant relationship was found between the time spent on social media, age (p<0.0001), education level (p<0.0001) and self-esteem (p<0.001). When self-esteem was compared with the age factor, it was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between them (p<0.05), and the self-esteem of the 19-29 age group, who spent the most time on social media, was lower than the other groups. It was observed that nearly 60% of the people who participated in the survey had high dental self-confidence, and close to 75% had high self-esteem, and there was a statistically significant relationship between them (p<0.05). Conclusion: It has been determined that dental self-confidence decreases with self-esteem in people who spend a long time on social media platforms, and the tendency to turn to aesthetic treatments increases. Since the impact of social media and the rapid increase in the number of users may be a reason for the number of people who have plastic surgery to increase exponentially every year, especially young individuals should critically evaluate the content they see on these platforms in order to protect their psychological health, improve their self-esteem and make the right decisions about themselves. Keywords: Aesthetic dentistry, Dental self-confidence, Self-esteem, social media