It may come as no surprise, but the primary reason people seek out cosmetic dentistry is for their appearance, and when they consider the results, what really matters to them is that they really achieve the beautiful smile they were promised. That’s according to the results of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD)’s 2015 survey of cosmetic dentists.
Why People Seek Cosmetic Dentistry
The survey asks many questions of dentists about their practices, but where the survey gets really interesting is when it starts delving into the reasons why people are seeking cosmetic dentistry. Here are the top six reasons why people get cosmetic dentistry, according to dentists:
- To improve physical attractiveness and self esteem
- To fix a previous cosmetic treatment
- To prepare for upcoming event
- Restorative and health reasons
- To look and feel younger
Dentists were able to choose more than one option for this question, so there’s a considerable overlap among answers, as each of these results were selected by at least 45% of dentists, and the top answer was chosen by 86%.
Of course the primary reason for cosmetic dentistry is improving physical attractiveness and self esteem. But it is surprising that the second most mentioned reason is to fix previous cosmetic treatment, which was chosen by 51% of dentists. It’s likely that many of these previous procedures weren’t performed by cosmetic dentists, but by people’s everyday dentist who said they could perform a cosmetic procedure. That’s why it’s important to carefully evaluate every dentist’s ability to provide cosmetic results before agreeing to treatment.
What People Want from Their Results
Another compelling question asked of dentists what what really mattered to patients in their results. Dentists were asked to rate patient concerns on a scale from one to five, with five being the most important concerns. Here’re the five most important concerns, according to dentists:
- Appearance
- Cost
- Longevity of results
- Time needed to complete treatment
- Pain
With 99% of dentists rating appearance as a major concern, it’s clear that people want results that look great. It’s also good if the results are cost-effective (88% said this was a major concern) and reasonably long-lasting (77% said this was a major concern). Time and pain were much lower concerns, each coming in at 49%.
It’s worth noting that we, as dentists, take all these concerns seriously, and do our best to make sure that we can provide you with the best looking results that are cost-effective, and long-lasting in a way that is convenient and comfortable for you.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of cosmetic dentistry at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry, please call (843) 706-2999 for an appointment with a Hilton Head cosmetic dentist today.
