Symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder among people presenting for cosmetic dental treatment: a comparative study of cosmetic dental patients and a general population sample.
OBJECTIVE
To determine appearance concerns of patients presenting for cosmetic treatment.


METHODS
This cross-sectional comparative study included consecutive patients of six different cosmetic clinics (n = 170), and a sample of the general population (n = 878). A study-specific self-report questionnaire was administered to document demographic and appearance concerns. Presence of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) was assessed based on DSM-IV criteria.


RESULTS
Cosmetic dental patients did not differ from the reference sample with regard to happiness and satisfaction as regards their appearance. However, differences were found with regard to frequency of previous general cosmetic (16.5% versus 5.9%) and cosmetic dental (47.9% versus 24.8%) procedures. Furthermore, a significantly higher proportion of the cosmetic dental patients sufficed for the two key screening criteria of BDD (9.5% versus 5.5%), and for the full diagnostic screening of BDD (4.2% versus 1.5%) compared with the respondents of the reference group.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that symptoms of BDD are relatively common among patients attending cosmetic clinics. It is important to assess the long-term effects of comprehensive cosmetic procedures, particularly in patients with disproportionate appearance concerns.
De Jongh
A
A
Department of Social Dentistry and Behavioural Sciences, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Aartman
I H A
IH
Parvaneh
H
H
Ilik
M
M
D001828:Body Image; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003357:Cosmetic Techniques; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004955:Esthetics, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires