ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oral Health
Sec. Oral Health Promotion
This article is part of the Research TopicPromoting A Lifespan Approach to Oral Health and Oral Health-Related Quality of LifeView all 9 articles
Dental confidence and subjective well-being in young adults. The mediating role of self-esteem
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Career and Educational Training, National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, Romania, Universitatea Politehnica din Bucuresti, Bucharest, Romania
- 2Department of Oral Health and Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
- 3Department of Embriology and Microbiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie Carol Davila din Bucuresti, Bucharest, Romania
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Dental aesthetic issues can negatively affect mental functioning and create barriers in social functioning in young individuals. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the role of self-esteem in the relationship between dental self-confidence and well-being in young Romanian adults and to test whether self-esteem functions as a mediator in this association. Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed, using a convenience sample of 775 respondents (Mean age=21.74 years, SD=3.40; 410 females) who were recruited to complete an online survey. This survey assessed dental self-confidence (scale from the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and subjective well-being via its cognitive and affective dimensions (Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience). Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-SEM), a variance-based structural equation modeling method, was used to analyze the data. Results: The findings showed that the relationship between the influence of dental aesthetics and subjective well-being was partially mediated by self-esteem. Dental self-confidence positively impacted self-esteem (β=0.345), which in turn had a significant impact on well-being (β=0.724). Together, self-esteem and dental self-confidence explained 59.9% of the variation in subjective well-being. Conclusions: The study concludes that young people who perceive themselves more positively regarding dental aesthetics tend to experience higher levels of well-being. The findings suggest that oral health campaigns to raise awareness of the psychosocial relevance of dental health could be beneficial.
Keywords: Dental aesthetics, physical appearance, Well-being, self-esteem, young adults
Received: 07 Aug 2025; Accepted: 14 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Balgiu, Sfeatcu and Didilescu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ruxandra Sfeatcu, ruxandra.sfeatcu@umfcd.ro
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.